South Africa’s parliament speaker receives Zuma’s letter of resignation

The speaker of South Africa’s parliament, Baleka Mbete, has received a letter from Jacob Zuma informing her of his resignation as president, Mbete’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
Zuma told the nation late on Wednesday that he was standing down after being instructed to do so by the ruling party, the African National Congress, Reuters reports.

Mbete’s office also said that the finance minister was scheduled to deliver a budget speech at 1400 local time (1200 GMT) on Feb. 21, as planned.