South Africa’s embattled President, Jacob Zuma on Wednesday night resigned from office with immediate effect.

This followed increasing pressure by the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC).

Zuma in his resignation speech said division and violence in the ruling party influenced his resignation.

Read his speech below...

“Members of the Media, present here,

Fellow South Africans, I address you after weeks of speculation about my future as President of the Republic of South Africa.

In particular, I make reference to the much publicized and awaited decision of the African National Congress issued on 13 February 2018.

It is now public knowledge that the National Executive Committee of the ANC resolved to recall me as the President of the Republic.

I have also learned that, before I respond to the initial decision, a new decision has been made by the ANC, whose effect is that I have now been compelled to resign by way of a motion of no confidence, set down for tomorrow, 15 February 2018.

The ANC is indeed the party on whose nomination I became a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa after its victory of the national elections of 2014.
It was on the ANC’s nomination that I was later elected by the majority in the National Assembly as the President of the Republic.

I am forever indebted to the ANC, the liberation movement I have served almost all my life.

I respect each member and leader of this glorious movement.

I respect its gallant fight against centuries of white minority brutality, whose relics remain today and continue to be entrenched in all manner of sophisticated ways, in order to ensure the continued survival of white privilege.

I do take seriously and am grateful to the ANC that, in the face of its revolutionary mission to ensure a better life for all and the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa, it deployed me at the pinnacle of its role in government.

I was also elected in terms of section 86 of the Constitution and from that moment pledged my loyalty to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

It has indeed been a great learning experience, a mammoth task, the performance of which can never be done without difficulty and learning on the way.

None of us, no matter how perfect, can claim that the building of a new society and the marshalling of a former liberation movement into a modern political party all happen in a straight line. It has detours, human error and boulders strewn along the path.

We will tell Zuma what he did wrong‚ says ANC

The ANC has promised to explain to former president Jacob Zuma exactly what he did wrong.

Because the struggle and politics are human activities, their pursuit is not without the taints of human nature. All my life, I have served and will continue to serve the ANC in its pursuit of the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution.

I serve in my capacity as President of the Republic of South Africa within the prism of our much acclaimed Constitution, whose foundational values I fully subscribe to.

I understand fully that while I serve at the pleasure of my party, the ANC, the door through which I officially came to serve the people of South Africa is the National Assembly, without which no political party can impose its candidate on the electorate, no matter how popular.

This Constitutional line between Party and State is often forgotten in the usual business of party political contestations.

As we fight our own battles in the corridors of political power, and sometimes serving the very interests of the oppressors of yesteryear, who joyfully celebrate as we lynch one another, we often forget the citizens on whose behalf we create a better life.

We tend to place the political party above the supreme law of the country, which is the rule book for the country’s political engagement.

I do not make this reference because I am above reproach. Nor do I wish to proclaim that in undertaking my political responsibilities I have been the epitome of perfection. If truth be told, none of us are.

There has been much speculation about how the President of the Republic should exit his or her office.

In my case, some have even dared to suggest that one’s perks and post-service benefits should determine how one chooses to vacate public office.

Often these concerns about perks and benefits are raised by the very same people seeking to speak as paragons of virtue and all things constitutional.

Some even suggest that the relevant constitutional provisions, sections 89 and 102, in terms of which the President should be removed from office, would constitute an embarrassment or humiliation.

For that reason, various suggestions are made to help leaders avoid this constitutional route of vacating political office without perks.

If we avail ourselves to serve in terms of the Constitution, we should be prepared, if needs be, and if those we serve deem it appropriate, to suffer the hardship that comes with our constitutional obligations.

Whether we lose our post-political office benefits, should not determine how we act in the time of our departure.

Nor did I agree to serve because there are no better cadres in the ANC and the country. Most importantly, I did not agree to serve in order to exit with perks and benefits of the Office of the President.

Jacob Zuma may no longer be the president of South Africa, but we will miss his charisma. Here are some of the moments during his reign that made him the president with charm.
It is my Party that placed me before the representatives of the people in the National Assembly to be elected. It is my Party that availed me to serve on the basis of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

https://www.benuepress.com/2018/02/read-jecob-zumas-full-speech-as-he-resigned-as-south-africa-president/

And one useless old phool is holding us to ransom