ANC to meet partners over call on Zuma to resign

South Africa's ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) said Wednesday they will meet their alliance partners to discuss their call for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

This was said by the ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe on Wednesday during a press briefing about National Working Committee (NWC) meeting which the party held on Tuesday.

The National Officials of the ANC also held a meeting on Monday to consider the recent cabinet reshuffle which was done by the president last week.

The ANC is in tripartite alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Mantashe said, "The NWC has emphasized the need for unity of the ANC and the alliance in the interests of South Africa. The ANC has reflected on the calls by the SACP and COSATU amongst others for President Jacob Zuma to resign from his position as the President of the Republic of South Africa."

Cosatu and SACP called for president Zuma to step down following his recent reshuffle which has also seen the rating agency S&P downgrading the country's foreign currency to subinvestment grade.

Mantashe said they are also not happy that the tripartite partners have said confidential issues in public which they discuss in private. This was after the SACP publicly stated that Zuma told them that he will axe the Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Mantashe said exposing confidential issues will remove trust as partners. He also said, "Whilst disagreements emerge, as they always will in the execution of our revolution, an atmosphere for genuine debate, criticism and self-criticism must always be created. Different viewpoints should always be engaged, regardless of where they emerge."

"The ANC is gravely concerned about the serious breach of confidentiality between ourselves and our Alliance Partner. This follows from a leak of our discussion held in confidence in a bilateral meeting between the two parties last week Monday. The African National Congress intends to raise these matters with the SACP in the next bilateral meeting," he added.

ANC said the recent reshuffle have created anxiety within the ANC and civil society. The ANC also resolved not to publicly show disagreements like they did after the recent reshuffle. Deputy President Ramaphosa publicly voiced displeasure with the removal of Gordhan.

The ANC reiterated that the president should consult when doing reshuffle and no much consultation was done before doing it last week.

Mantashe added there was irretrievable breakdown in communication between Gordhan and Zuma which led to his axing. The ANC also regretted the downgrade and said they have noted the issues raised by the rating agency. The ANC said they still have confidence in Zuma as the president of the party and country.