South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma : under fire again

Mmusi Maimane, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance has called for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma after a deputy finance minister said he had been offered ministry position by family friends of the president.

“It’s clear the ANC (African National Congress) has been captured. We must have a full parliamentary inquiry into the appointment of every single cabinet minister,” Maimane told Reuters.

Maimane made the quit call after South Africa’s deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said he rejected an offer by a wealthy family with close links to President Jacob Zuma to take up the position of finance minister to replace former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

“Members of the Gupta family offered me the position of Minister of Finance to replace then Minister (Nhlanhla) Nene,” Jonas said in a statement. “I rejected this out of hand. The basis of my rejection of their offer is that it makes a mockery of our hard earned democracy, the trust of our people and no one apart from the President of the Republic appoints ministers.”

But the Gupta family issued a rebuttal on Wednesday:

“Any suggestion that the Gupta family or any of our representatives or associates have offered anyone a job in government is totally false,” the family said in statement.