Zuma Calls South African ANC's Push for Him to Quit `Unfair'

South African president said he’s done nothing wrong.

20 Feb 2018, 05:59 PM IST

Zuma Calls South African ANC's Push for Him to Quit `Unfair'

Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, speaks with journalists during the 54th national conference of the African National Congress party in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Jacob Zuma said the push by his ruling party for him to resign is “unfair,” in his first television interview since the African National Congress decided to replace him as the nation’s leader.

“There’s nothing that I have done wrong,” he said in an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday. “What is the problem? I don’t understand. I don’t agree with it.”

Zuma spoke after the ANC announced it’s preparing to hold a vote of no confidence in him on Thursday and to elect a new president. Calls for him to quit have grown since Cyril Ramaphosa replaced him as party leader in December.

The party wants a quick transition so Ramaphosa, a 65-year-old lawyer and one of the richest black South Africans, can move to fulfill pledges to revive the struggling economy, clamp down on corruption and rebuild its image ahead of elections scheduled for mid-2019.

Zuma said he had previously agreed to resign so long as he could remain in office for several more months. He would make a statement later Wednesday.

“I have disagreed with a decision that is taken,” he said. “I felt I am being victimized here. That is not the way we do things. You can’t force the decision as it has been done now.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Amogelang Mbatha in Johannesburg at ambatha@bloomberg.net, Paul Vecchiatto in Cape Town at pvecchiatto@bloomberg.net, Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier, Hilton Shone