WATCH: EL residents take part in anti-Zuma march
East London residents took to the streets from as early as 7am to add their voices to a nationwide call for President Jacob Zuma to step down.
Small groups of residents with placards demanding “Zuma Must Go” gathered in Beacon Bay, the city centre and Gonubie.
At 8am, the South Africa Prayer Movement for Change held a prayer in front of the East London City Hall.
Pastor Laurette Mkati said their movement was not about any leader but about the country.
“Today we came to pray to God for him to subdue any spirit of violence in and around the country and the city. We came to pray for our country and not for any individual,” said Mkati.
A hundred residents joined in on the prayer service.
Nikiwe Apeteng said she felt it was important to pray for the country.
“The prayer was not directed at any individual but to the state that our nation is in,” said Mkati.
At noon, the Democratic Alliance in the Buffalo City Metro led a number of protesters from Buffalo City Stadium to the city hall. The DA’s Sue Bentley said the march was not about the party but it was about South Africa and its citizens.
“This march has members of other political parties that have also seen the mess that we have been put in by Zuma. We had reached out to other parties to say ‘let’s come together for the sake of our country’,” said Bentley.
United Democratic Movement MP Mncedisi Filtane, who was among those leading the march, said he was upholding the constitution of the country.
“President Zuma has not concerned himself with the rest of the South Africans. He is concerned with his children and his close allies. We are here to say he must step aside,” said Filtane.