Ruling party ANC says Zuma is not untouchable

No one in South Africa's ruling party is untouchable, including President Jacob Zuma, the party's secretary general said on Thursday in response to questions about allegations of interference in politics by Zuma's business friends.

The government was rocked on Wednesday by suggestions that a wealthy family with close ties to Zuma may have been behind his decision to sack the country's respected finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December.

"He's not untouchable, he's the president," Mantashe told Reuters. "Why should we see this as a crisis instead of a positive? It will embolden people to come to the fore ... so we can find the business people who are tampering within the ANC."