JOHANNESBURG — Thousands of people marched in major cities across South Africaon Wednesday to demand the resignation of President Jacob Zuma after an importantgovernment appointment last week that raised concerns about his handling of the nation’s economy.
Protesters in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and elsewhere have called on the governing African National Congress to recall Mr. Zuma, whose tenure as president has been marred by a series of scandals and accusations of pervasive corruption, but the party has stood by him so far.
Last week, Mr. Zuma surprised even members of his own cabinet by abruptly firing Nhlanhla Nene, his well-respected finance minister, who had clashed with the chairwoman of the state-owned South African Airways, Dudu Myeni, who is a close ally of Mr. Zuma’s.
Mr. Zuma named David van Rooyen, a low-profile lawmaker with no experience in government finance, as Mr. Nene’s successor. But only days later he was forced to replace Mr. van Rooyen with Pravin Gordhan, a former finance minister, after investors expressed grave concern about the independence of South Africa’s treasury and the country’s currency, the rand, dropped sharply.
Zwelinzima Vavi, the former leader of Cosatu, the powerful trade union federation, and a former ally of Mr. Zuma’s, called on the president to step down.
“We are refusing to be reconciled with the eating away of the moral fiber of our society by a small elite that has managed to intimidate so many South Africans with their corruption,” Mr. Vavi said.