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The DA welcomes Jacob Zuma’s overdue resignation as President. We rejoice with all South Africans today as the long, painful decade of Zuma’s presidency finally comes to an end.

Jacob Zuma did untold harm to our country. More people are unemployed than ever before, and more people live in poverty than when he came into office. On his watch, corruption has been allowed to flourish to the point of nearly destroying our country and completely capturing the state and the prosecution system.

That will forever be his shameful legacy.

Even in his resignation speech tonight, he refused to take any responsibility for his actions, and for the harm he caused the country. Such shameless disdain requires a level of pathology that reveals Jacob Zuma’s true nature.

He must now face the 783 criminal charges still awaiting him before the Courts. There can be no amnesty or immunity for Jacob Zuma.

There were over half a dozen Motions of No Confidence across almost 1000 days where the ANC had opportunities to rid South Africa of Jacob Zuma and his toxic corrupt web.

Now that the ANC have done what they should have done almost three years ago, we expect the 783 charges awaiting him to be prosecuted and for justice to prevail.

Zuma built a deep system of corruption that has penetrated every part of the government and the criminal prosecution system. These criminal networks run deep, and will not be easy to uproot. It will take more than talk of a New Deal.

After getting rid of Zuma, the ANC must show serious intent to rid itself of other corrupt individuals, like DD Mabuza, Ace Magashule, Pule Mabe and many others.

We need total change to enforce 15-year minimum sentences on anyone found guilty of corruption and the South African Police Service must be professionalised so that they can become the trusted custodians of our safety.

Let’s never forget that every sign of Zuma’s future corruption was there for all to see before he was elected. Now the country looks to Cyril Ramaphosa to save us from a man that he and the ANC protected and supported. We must never allow this to happen again.

We believe that whomever is the new President requires a mandate from the public, and that South Africans should express themselves as to whether the ANC can be trusted to tackle corruption. That is why we have called for the dissolution of parliament, along with other opposition parties. Only a DA government can bring the new beginning that South Africa so desperately needs.

Issued by DA