Nelson Mandela Foundation elated at Zuma exit

The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) in Houghton has welcomed the decision by former President Jacob Zuma to resign from his office.

In a statement released a day after Zuma’s resignation, the foundation said the time that it took for Zuma to ‘do the honourable thing’ is testament to the degree to which he had come to see the presidency as his personal fiefdom.

“His departure marks the end of our country’s highest office being used to systematically loot state coffers. We trust that it will also mark the beginning of a politics which places the most vulnerable at the centre,” the statement read.

“We acknowledge the sterling work done by [then] deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and many other leaders of the African National Congress in forcing the 14 February breakthrough. We note also the unprecedented spirit of cooperation between opposition political parties which played a key role in sealing Zuma’s ouster.

“This spirit will be essential as the long work of cleaning up and fixing unfolds.”

The foundation insisted that while Zuma remains a symbol of criminality, all those involved in corruption must be held accountable.

“We welcome the decisive moves by organs of the state to act against the networks of criminality which have crippled our democracy in the last decade. Of course, it is not going to be enough simply to clean up and fix.

“Our flagship project on poverty and inequality, the Mandela Initiative, which concluded a national workshop in Cape Town on 14 February, offered analysis on how this state capture has taken place in democratic South Africa.”

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