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Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has issued a stern warning against the “mafikizolos” and “Mickey Mouse” parties who he says seek to remove President Jacob Zuma from office before his term is up.
“The president will not be removed from office by anybody,” Mthethwa said today at the official Freedom Day event in Giyani, Limpopo, where he introduced Zuma ahead of his address.
“Anyone who says that the Constitution is under threat is mistaken. President Zuma and his democratically elected government will bow out in 2019; it is going to be so.”
The remarks were met with brief cheers from the crowd who gathered under mercifully cool weather conditions.
“People who want to take shortcuts with votes of no confidence will not succeed,” Mthethwa said.
He stressed that Zuma will not bow to any pressure for him to step down. This comes amid calls from various sectors – including religious organisations, opposition parties and even from within the ranks of the ANC itself – for Zuma to resign.
Even as Mthethwa spoke, civil society groups led a number of demonstrations around the country calling for Zuma to go.
The minister said they respected the right of these groupings to protest but the president is going nowhere.
Today marks 22 years since South Africans first took to the polls in 1994 to elect a democratic party. The ANC has won every election since then.
