ANC rejects calls for Zuma to quit

South Africa’s African National Congress “closed ranks” around President Jacob Zuma after two key allies of the ruling party called for his resignation following a cabinet reshuffle that cost the country one of its investment-grade credit ratings.

Accordinng to Reuters, the rand fell more than 1 percent and bonds weakened after ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told a news briefing on Wednesday that the ANC would not support removing Zuma, whose party leadership role ends in December. Zuma’s presidential term will finish in 2019.

Last Thursday’s dismissal of finance minister Pravin Gordhan, a totem of policymaking stability for many foreign investors, was criticized by unions, civil society groups and the opposition, and has revived pressure on Zuma to quit.

Since taking office in 2009, the 74-year-old president has repeatedly denied accusations of corruption, and senior ANC officials have backed him.

S&P Global Ratings cited Gordhan’s departure as one reason for its downgrade of South Africa to “junk” in an unscheduled credit rating review on Monday, a move that is set to push up the country’s borrowing costs.

Mantashe said the ANC had accepted the “irretrievable breakdown of the relationship” between Zuma and Gordhan as the reason the finance minister was sacked.

Gordhan’s removal has deepened a rift within the ruling party, with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a leading candidate to replace Zuma as ANC president, describing it on Friday as “totally, totally unacceptable”.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) and the country’s biggest trade union, Cosatu, both historic allies of the ANC, have called on Zuma to step down following the sacking.

Mantashe had also openly criticized Zuma’s actions but he painted a different picture on Wednesday, saying the ANC would “close ranks” around the president and the party would iron out its differences with Cosatu and SACP.