Mandela's fellow ANC activist asks South African Prez to step down

London : South African President Jacob Zuma has been asked by an anti-apartheid activist to step down after the country's highest court ruled that the leader had acted dishonestly over state spending on his private mansion.

Ahmed Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela in 1964, said the scandal that has engulfed Zuma's seven-year presidency had reached the point where only his resignation would allow the government to recover from "a crisis of confidence".

This condemnation echoed calls for Zuma's resignation from the Opposition parties led by the Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters which stressed on his failure to even apologise unreservedly to South Africans.

The Opposition has launched impeachment proceedings against Zuma but these are unlikely to prove fruitful given the large majority the African National Congress (ANC) has in Parliament, where it holds 249 out of 400 seats in the national assembly.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the President had 'humbled' himself, adding we are comfortable with the fact he has apologised.

Mandela and Kathrada were among the eight ANC activists sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government during the 1963-1964 Rivonia trial.