While South African President Jacob Zuma faces a motion and vote of no confidence in the South African National Assembly in a few hours, he also faces a much more serious lack of support. Prominent figures from the African National Congress, South Africa's governing social democratic political party, are turning their backs on Zuma, and are doing so loudly.
"He must go," Ben Toruk, a former anti-apartheid activist and ANC parliamentarian, told Al Jazeera.
The National Assembly motion has been put forward by John Steenhuisen, chief whip of main opposition party Democratic Alliance, expressing widespread dissatisfaction with president Zuma.
While ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has labelled the calls for Zuma's exit "premature and unfounded", the opposition has unexpected backing from the so-called stalwarts of the party itself, ANC veterans and heroes.
One hundred and one ANC veterans have signed a document expressing serious concerns about the state of the country. One of these individuals, Frank Chikane, former director general of the Presidency of South Africa under Nelson Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, told Al Jazeera that not only must Zuma go, the entire ANC leadership must be replaced.
"What we need is a total change and cleaning up of the system, ridding the corruption in ANC. If the president responded to the call for him to resign, it would help a great deal, but not solve the whole problem," Mbeki said.
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