The ANC is facing rising calls, including from some of its veteran members, to remove him.
"It is not the Constitutional Court judgment that is the issue. The issue is the trust deficit that has developed, with people beginning to trust us less and less and less and less," ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday.
Speaking at the anniversary of the 1993 killing of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani, Mantashe defended the ANC's rejection of the impeachment drive against Zuma, saying to do otherwise would have served the opposition's agenda.
"But it doesn't absolve us from looking into our own behavior. There must be change in our behavior as a movement," he added. "If we don't change our behavior, we become arrogant in dealing with our problems. We are going to pay the price."
Mantashe spoke as residents in poor townships vowed to boycott August local government elections out of anger that the ANC has done little to improve their lives, dashing the hopes that accompanied Nelson Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's first black president two decades ago. DM
Photo: Gwede Mantashe (Greg Nicolson / Daily Maverick)