The Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa has urged the ANC to ask President Jacob Zuma to resign or recall him as presidential candidate for the May elections.
In a letter to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, the institute said the Public Protector's findings that Zuma had unduly benefited from state-funded work on his private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, and the shadow of corruption charges linked to the 1999 arms deal, made Zuma unfit for the post.
"We would urge you and your colleagues on the national executive committee [NEC] of the ANC to reconsider the implications of persisting with JZ [Jacob Zuma] as your presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections and to give serious attention to recalling him as presidential candidate if he does not opt to voluntarily resign," the institute's director Paul Hoffman wrote.
He said this would be the best way for the African National Congress to convince voters that it remained committed to the rule of law and the Constitution.
He warned the ruling party faced the risk that corruption charges against Zuma could be reinstated in the next five years, if the Democratic Alliance's court review of the withdrawal of the charges shortly before the last elections succeeded.
Given this, and Zuma's track record in office, Hoffman said it would be irrational to have him run for a second term.
"The problem is that JZ is so compromised and in such an unmanageable conflict of interest position that he is effectively incapable of properly fulfilling his obligations, duties and functions as president of the country."
The NEC is due to meet this weekend.
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