South African protesters urge Zuma to quit

More than 30,000 people marched in South Africa’s capital Pretoria on Wednesday calling on President Jacob Zuma to quit, keeping up pressure from the streets on the leader over his handling of the struggling economy.

The protesters marched through the city and held a rally at a field outside the Union Buildings, the site of Mr Zuma’s offices.

Mr Zuma, who turned 75 on Wednesday, has survived previous protests. But the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and other parties behind the protest believe they can drum up support to force Mr Zuma out of office following his dismissal of respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle.

“He is misusing state money,” said 21-year-old student and Pretoria resident Thomas Monyoko wearing a red EFF T-shirt.

“Let the message be clear today that Zuma is no longer a credible president of South Africa,” EFF leader Julius Malema said. “We don’t care whether you are white, whether you are Indian, whether you are black, we are here to defend the future of our children.”

Meanwhile; Mr Zuma had accused Friday’s marchers of having racist motives. Like Friday, a mixed racial profile of people attended Wednesday’s rallies but there were less white people.

Mr Zuma meanwhile sang, danced and cracked jokes at his 75th birthday celebrations held in the Soweto township, near the commercial hub of Johannesburg.

“I’m not worried when people call me names. I’ve been called names for years,” said a jovial Mr Zuma, speaking in the Zulu language. “The opposition are doing their job, which is to oppose, don’t be worried,” he told supporters.

Wrapping up his speech, Mr Zuma said: “If tomorrow you [the ANC] say that I should step down, I will do so with a pure heart.”