Besieged South African President Jacob Zuma in a reflective moment. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela's granddaughter Ndileka Mandela joined Thursday's anti-Zuma rally in Pretoria.
The newly-formed Freedom Movement (FM) organised the rally as South Africans celebrate Freedom Day, to pile pressure on President Jacob Zuma to resign.
Thursday’s rally is the latest in a wave of anti-Zuma demonstrations sparked by the president’s recent Cabinet reshuffle that saw the removal of Pravin Gordhan as Finance minister.
Apartheid government
Speaking on the sidelines of the rally, Ms Ndileka Mandela said her grandfather would have wanted “the right thing to be done” when the motion of no-confidence is debated in Parliament.
“I would echo the words he spoke when he was alive: 'If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government’.”
FM comprises opposition parties including the Democratic Alliance (DA), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the Congress of the People (Cope).
Its rally also attracted religious leaders, civil society and supporters of other political parties.
The rally comes just a day after the DA filed papers demanding that the president explain why he decided to reshuffle the Cabinet.
FM member Prince Mashele said their message was that those who fought for South Africa's freedom wanted the country to be politically free.
"They wanted the state to be used as an instrument of transformation and the development of all South Africans. We believe that has been hijacked by a kleptocratic leadership led by Jacob Zuma working with nefarious business interest such as the Guptas.
Our message
We are saying today, we want to reclaim our freedom from thieves who have hijacked our state, so that we redirect the state to where it is supposed to be. That is the crux of our message," Mr Mashele said.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the marches were about removing the president and not an attack on the ruling party.
"So far, the indication is that he is not sober to lead the country, so we'll support that."
Cope's Dennis Bloem said President Zuma had plunged South Africa into an economic disaster.
