Several senior ANC figures have come out to demand Zuma consider his position, while thousands of ordinary South Africans have taken to social media to express their frustrations under the hashtag #ZumaMustFall.
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The protest, which is set to last until noon, comes after President Jacob Zuma’s sacking of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene last week.
A protester, Theresa Giorza while speaking with AFP said, “We had such hopes in 1994 because of all the struggles to remove apartheid”.
“Those of our white compatriots who were forced to undergo compulsory military service or conscription and were deployed in townships as young people to defend and entrench an evil regime need to be able to share their stories so that they can find healing”, he said.
He said it was encouraging to see black and white students marching together in support of free education recently. It has gone from bad to worse.
He said people were “gatvol” [fed up] with corruption and called on Zuma to “step aside” in order to save the country. It was as much as 891 basis points, or nearly 9 percentage points, in February, when Nigeria’s yields soared after its government postponed a presidential election following an upsurge in attacks by Boko Haram militants.
“They wanted to grab the treasury for the interests of (those) who are eating from the carcass of our state”.
Zuma has since moved Van Rooyen to the portfolio of cooperative government and traditional affairs, re-appointing Pravin Gordham as finance minister.
“Jacob Zuma has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a leader of a sophisticated democracy and economy”, he said.
Held in different cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth, demonstrators signed petitions for the removal of president Zuma.
Ratings agency Moody’s cut its outlook on South Africa’s sovereign credit rating to negative from stable, citing the increased probability that economic growth will remain low for a prolonged period of time.
By 1216 GMT on Monday, the rand had strengthened by 5.07 percent against the dollar to 15.0850, recouping some losses suffered last week and putting it on course towards its biggest daily percentage rise since 2008.
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“The country is presently at a critical juncture, economically, which urgently requires leadership to stabilise the markets, to reassure investors and avoid further damage to an increasingly fragile economy”, said Dr Van Zyl.
