S.African police fire stun grenades, water canon at anti-Zuma protesters

South African police fired stun grenades and water cannon to disperse protesters who marched towards President Jacob Zuma’s offices in the capital Pretoria on Wednesday, demanding that he quit over what they called poor leadership.

Zuma had earlier dropped a court bid to delay the release of a report into the political influence wielded by his close allies.

The Gupta report by the Public Protector, a constitutionally mandated anti-graft official, looks into allegations of corruption that have brought on the biggest crisis of Zuma’s presidency, costing him support within the ruling party.

Zuma denies providing special favours for wealthy friends, including three brothers who also deny wrongdoing. The report’s publication had been halted on Oct. 14 after Zuma appealed to the High Court to block it.

The affair has rattled markets in Africa’s most industrialised economy, which faces the risk of ratings downgrades later this year. Divisions within the African National Congress (ANC) have widened since the ruling party suffered its worst-ever local election results in August.

The rand rose by 2 percent to the dollar and bonds firmed. Analysts said allowing the report to be released was an indication the country still had strong institutions.

“The public protector is ordered to publish the report forthwith and by no later than 1700 (1500 GMT) on 2 November, 2016,” Judge Dunstan Mlambo said to applause in court.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party welcomed the decision.

Zuma withdrew his court bid in the interests of justice, the Presidency said in a statement. It also said Zuma would consider “the contents of the report in order to ascertain whether it should be a subject of a court challenge.”

Zuma’s lawyer, Anthea Platt, had earlier told the court she had been instructed to withdraw the application to delay publication and offer to pay the costs for the hearing.

Protesters also demanded that state prosecutor Shaun Abrahams be removed from office. Abrahams had pressed charges of fraud against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, but then dropped them on Monday after popular support for him from the worlds of politics and business.