South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday dropped a court bid to delay the release of a report over alleged influence peddling in government as thousands marched in the capital Pretoria against the president. The affair has rattled markets in Africa's most industrialized economy, which faces the risk of ratings downgrades later this year. Divisions within the African National Congress (ANC) have widened since the ruling party suffered its worst-ever local election results in August. The rand strengthened by 1.5 percent and bonds firmed in response to the news of the withdrawal of the bid to delay the report. Analysts said allowing the report to be released was an indication the country still had strong institutions. The release of the report by the Public Protector, a constitutionally mandated anti-graft official, was suspended on Oct. 14 after Zuma's application to the High Court. The hearing, which started on Tuesday, continued on Wednesday with legal wrangling over when the report should be released now that Zuma had withdrawn his bid to hold it up. Thousands of people gathered at various points in the city. Some carried "Zuma must go" placards outside the court. Zuma's lawyer Anthea Platt told the court she had been instructed to withdraw the application and offer to pay the costs for the hearing, giving no explanation of the reasons for the decision. Zuma's spokesman did not answer phone calls, email or text messages for comment. Protesters also demanded that state prosecutor Shaun Abrahams be removed from office. Abrahams had pressed charges of fraud against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, but then dropped them on Monday after popular support from both the political and corporate realms for Gordhan. Supporters of Gordhan and sympathetic financial analysts say all the charges could be a ploy by Zuma and his allies to discredit a finance minister who stood in the way of their securing access to lucrative government contracts. The president has denied that he is in conflict with Gordhan. The Nelson Mandela Foundation, a charity founded by South Africa's first black president, blamed Zuma on Tuesday for the "wheels coming off" South Africa. About forty CEOs of mostly listed companies, including technology investment firm Naspers, Africa's biggest company by market value, and Standard Bank, the continent's biggest bank by assets, have also joined in calls for new political leadership. "The things that are wrong, whether in the public or private sector, we will stand up against them," said Jabu Mabuza, Chairman Telkom, the partially-privatized former monopoly telecoms firm, told a media conference. Since taking office in 2009, Zuma, 74, has survived several corruption scandals almost unscathed, with the backing of top echelons of the ANC. But near record unemployment has exacerbated discontent with Zuma's government, which also failed to end weeks of often violent student demonstrations over the cost of university education. "This means Zuma must now step down," said Azaria Khambani, 33, a security guard taking part in the protests when he heard that Zuma had withdrawn the court challenge. Jay Jacobs, 40, who also works in the security industry, said: "We will not leave Pretoria until Zuma goes. He must take the Guptas with him to jail." Brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, who are close friends of Zuma and run businesses ranging from media to mining, are the subject of the report by the then Public Protector on allegations that they influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma has denied granting them undue influence and they have denied seeking it. Outside the court, opposition leaders said Zuma, who has shown no signs of stepping down before his second and final term as president is up in 2019, should leave office now. "We are here to demand the resignation of Jacob Zuma," said Julius Malema, leader of the radical leftist party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who called for Wednesday's marches as a show of force against Zuma, told a cheering crowd of supporters dressed in red party T-shirts. Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party said he would now push for the Gupta report to be made public "within the next 24 hours". Paul Mashatile, ANC chairman for Gauteng province which includes Pretoria and the economic hub Johannesburg, said his group would take part in the marches, even without the blessing of the national party. "I do not have the mandate to say the president must step down, but I can say we are against all the wrong things that are happening, including corruption," he told eNCA television. He said the party had to change after its August hammering in municipal polls, its worst electoral losses since Mandela's historic victory in the first post-apartheid election in 1994. In March, the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma to repay some of $16 million spent on enhancing his Nkandla home in rural KwaZulu-Natal province. Zuma, who weathered a motion of no-confidence in parliament over the cost of the renovations, has since paid back more than $500,000 as required by the court. "There is little doubt whatsoever that it further weakens President Zuma's position. There is a possibility that there are serious additional indictments against him in that report," Susan Booysen, a political analyst at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, said referring to Zuma's court U-turn. — Reuters
