A senior member of South Africa's ruling ANC is urging its top leaders including President Jacob Zuma to quit, saying fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan reflected an abuse of power to settle political scores within the party.
ANC parliamentary chief whip Jackson Mthembu's comments on Sunday come a week after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly expressed support for Gordhan, saying the case against him should not be allowed to undermine his efforts to revive the economy.
Prosecutors have ordered Gordhan to appear in court on November 2, in what his supporters and analysts say is an attempt to muzzle the Treasury over its criticism of the undue political influence exerted by a wealthy family close to Zuma.
"In my view, a minister is being pursued for political reasons, and then charged with fraud. That's why I've then said, perhaps we are not the leadership that can take the ANC forward under these conditions," Mthembu said on ENCA television.