First on EWN: ‘Zuma is polarising rather than uniting the ANC’

Former ANC deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus says President Jacob Zuma must step down.

JOHANNESBURG - Former African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus says President Jacob Zuma must step down because he's polarising, rather than uniting, the ruling party.

Carolus has told Eyewitness News she believes Zuma should take a step back to get a sense of what he's putting the ANC through.

WATCH: Cheryl Carolus slams President Jacob Zuma.

She says she often sought the counsel of Zuma while she was the party's secretary general, adding that today his role is much more divisive.

"The biggest problem with the way the president is conducting himself at the moment is that he is abdicating the responsibility for his own personal wrongs and making it a national crisis. He is prepared to divide the ANC on the basis of something he acknowledged he was wrong about."

Carolus has queried the president's motivation.

"We have never seen or imagined that one individual c+an divide us, not around policies, not around values, but around misdemeanors that personally has to do in fact with his personal enrichment or benefit. Not one of them is a matter of principle or policy, and I resent that."

Carolus says Zuma should resign so the ANC can do a proper job in leading the country.

WATCH: Cheryl Carolus hits out at MPs over violence in Parly.

'ANC MUST DO THE RIGHT THING'

Carolus is appealing to the ruling party to do the right thing, not because it wants to garner votes but because it's correct.

The former secretary general says she is saddened by the apparent change in values emulated by the ANC.

She's warned that South African citizens are becoming increasingly impatient, adding that political leaders have failed to adequately address the demands of the people.

"Ordinary people in this country are extremely courageous and patient and it is ruining it."

Carolus says a scramble for power within some organisations has led to the discord.

"I think the disconnect between our political leadership of all parties and the people on the ground is a great pity and a heck of a big risk that our political leaders are not switched on to that."

While she still believes the ANC is the party to take South Africa forward, she believes the ANC doesn't seem to realise that time is running out.

"Leaders across political parties are so busy fighting politics and I think they're losing sight of how this time bomb is building up."

Carolus calls herself a loyal and disciplined member of the ANC, who wants to see changes made.

"There is so much that has corrupted the nobility of the ANC that people died for."

LISTEN: Former ANC deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus on SA's political landscape.

MATHEWS PHOSA

Last week, Former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa added his voice to the chorus calling for Zuma to resign.

He said the Nkandla debacle was scandalous, no matter how one looked at it.

Phosa said he would never accept Zuma's decision or apology on Nkandla, despite the decision by most ANC branches to forgive him.

WATCH: Mathews Phosa: ANC must stop 'protecting corruption'.