South African police carried out raids on the residences of the Guptas, a group of businessmen with close ties to President Jacob Zuma.
The raids, which were carried out by South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks, as well as South African police officers, took place in the Saxonwold neighborhood of Johannesburg.
The Guptas, three Indian ex-pat businessmen, are accused by the country’s anti-graft body of using their close relationship with Zuma for financial gain.
The raids come a day after South Africa was plunged into political turmoil after the country’s ruling African National Congress announced it had demanded Zuma’s resignation, but the 75-year-old has so far refused to go.
Zuma has been mired in a slew of corruption scandals and survived opposition parties’ attempts to oust him. His ability to survive them earned him the nickname “Teflon President.”
He faces more than 780 allegations of corruption relating to a 1990s arms deal. Zuma denies all the corruption allegations against him.
Speaking to CNN Tuesday, South Africa’s Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said he expects Zuma to resign on Wednesday.
“We expect that tomorrow (Wednesday) he (Zuma) is going to do the right thing as the ANC (African National Congress) expects,” he said.
“The secretary general (of the ANC) was very clear today that we expect of the cadres of the ANC to do the right thing when called upon. As President Mbeki himself did so in 2008, we expect that President Zuma will do the same thing. If that doesn’t happen, the ANC has put in mechanisms to address that situation.”
