Johann Rupert has come out publicly and said what most of us are thinking – please can our president step down and stop his farcical leadership of this country.

Rupert was responding to accusations made by Zuma, who said that the billionaire (that’s Rupert, not JZ and his Gupta money) had attempted to scheme behind the president’s back in December of last year.

Here’s more of Rupert’s response according to City Press:

Rupert commented on a Netwerk24 article, titled “Zuma allegedly says: Tell me directly if I should step down”, that he didn’t fly out of London, as Zuma had alleged, because he was in South Africa, acting as chancellor at a University of Stellenbosch graduation.

Rupert is one of the first high-profile businessmen to speak out strongly about Zuma, the ANC’s failure to act against him and the direction the country was moving.

In his comment, Rupert implored President Zuma to “step aside and go back to your ANC branch”, especially if Zuma believed that he flew from London to South Africa to meet with a senior ANC leader and to demand that the appointment of Van Rooyen was reversed.

He said that, if Zuma’s information had not come from the Guptas, and if his information was correct, he would have known that Rupert was attending the graduation ceremony.

“How could I, therefore, fly back? Yes, for the children’s future, please resign.”

He said from the United States that he was “fed up” with the way Zuma managed the country…

Rupert was in discussions with international businessmen and investors, who had warned him that that South Africa’s credit rating downgrade to junk was inevitable.

“It would mean a dollar will suddenly cost R30. The consequences will be far-reaching”…

We get you Johann, but you can just add your voice to the chorus of others that look likely to fall on deaf ears.

The only real hope is that pressure comes from within the ANC, although with Zuma having been given a standing ovation by party members at last week’s NEC that looks like another dead end.

[source:citypress]