'ANTI-ZUMA MARCHES SHOW COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY'

CAPE TOWN/JOHANNESBURG - As South Africa marks Freedom Day today, African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Denis Goldberg says marches in several cities and the growing calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down are a measure of the strength of people's commitment to democracy.

Several organisations marked Freedom Day by renewing their call for Zuma’s resignation or removal in the wake of the Constitutional Court's Nkandla judgment.

WATCH: Calls for #ZumaMustFall on Freedom Day

At the People's Assembly anti-Zuma gathering in the Johannesburg CBD, a letter was read out on behalf of the Rivonia trialist.

The letter begins with a passage from the Constitution about the protection of Chapter Nine institutions to ensure independence.

“There have been consistent attempts to weaken these institutions, but they have stood firm. It is special that the far-sighted vision of the drafters of the Constitution has been revealed in the attempts to circumvent the mandate of these institutions.”

Another group, including NGOs and religious and political organisations, marched to Parliament earlier today under the ‘Zuma Must Fall’ banner.

Evangelic Alliance Chairperson Richard Verreynne says the ball is in the ANC's court.

“We will not relent and we will not stop until we are heard. We cannot wait for months or a year-and-a-half before this happens. We demand for it to happen now.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane spent his Freedom Day in the protest-hit Zandspruit informal settlement.

He claims the ANC government has long forgotten about the poorest of the poor.

“You realise there is a government here who doesn’t care about the people, a government who has long forgotten what its role is. Therefore on Freedom Day, South Africans have earned the right to vote, but they’re not enjoying the fruits of freedom.”

(Edited by Shimoney Regter)