'Hacked ANC Twitter Account' Announces Zuma Removal; Anti-Zuma Protest In Company Gardens

Image source: ANC on Twitter

The Johannesburg office of South Africa's ruling ANC party says its Twitter account fell victim to a hack this morning, with someone using it to announce the removal of President Jacob Zuma.  In Tweets that were subsequently deleted, the account said: 

"We took the painful decision to recall the ANC Pres from his position as head of State and the President of the Republic of South Africa" 

BBC Africa Live report continues:

Further Tweets said that the deputy president would take over in the interim, until parliament could be convened to organize the election of a new leader. 

President Zuma has taken a lot of heat this week from within his own governing ANC party, after his decision to sack two finance ministers in the space of a week.

Once the ANC regained control of the account, it quickly sought to clear up any confusion.

The ANC has just held a press conference in which it gave its full backing to President Zuma saying that the way he changed his mind over the appointment of David van Rooyen as finance minister showed that he was listening.

Photo: @our_DA/Twitter

Anti-Zuma Protest In Company Gardens

African News Agency (ANA) reports that the Cape Town City council on Tuesday said it had granted Unite Against Corruption permission for a protest gathering in the Company Gardens where the activist group said it would call on President Jacob Zuma to step down.

“We stand in solidarity with all people calling for responsible leadership and say Zuma must fall and must be held accountable for his actions,” Unite Against Corruption organiser Miles Giljam said on Tuesday.

“He is the number one corrupter in our country.”

Giljam said the gathering had been scheduled for 10am to noon and so far some 1,500 people had signalled on the group’s Facebook page that they would attend.

It has been reported on social media that the gathering would be addressed by anti-apartheid struggle stalwart and former minister Barbara Hogan - who last week accused Zuma of sabotaging the economy and called on the ANC to remove him from power - but Giljam said she had not yet confirmed that she was attending. However, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s daughter Mpho would he there, he said.

It has also been reported on social media that anti-Zuma protesters would march to Parliament on Wednesday. The City of Cape Town’s executive director for safety and security Richard Bosman said so far nobody had approached the council for permission for a march to the legislature.
However, he said it could happen that those who planned to head to the legislature would join the picket in the adjacent gardens.