South Africa’s ruling ANC party ended marathon closed-door talks early Tuesday morning resolving to remove the scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma as head of state after he refused to resign, local media reported. The party’s powerful 107-member national executive committee (NEC) met for 13 hours at a hotel outside Pretoria, and decided it would “recall” Zuma from his job as national president, several local independent media said. “It took a brutal 13 hours, but the ANC’s national executive committee has decided to recall President Jacob Zuma as head of state,” the Times newspaper said citing unnamed sources.
Other media reported that the party will write to Zuma ordering him to stand down as president of Africa’s most advanced economy, after he had asked for a few more months in office. Earlier, state broadcaster SABC said the ANC had given Zuma 48 hours to turn in his resignation. There was no official announcement and ANC officials were not reachable to confirm the reports. The party committee can “recall” the head of state, essentially forcing him to step down, but he is under no constitutional obligation to obey.
He will then likely be ousted via a parliamentary vote of no-confidence within days. African National Congress chief Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly left the meeting that ran late into the night to meet Zuma at his official Pretoria residence. His motorcade was seen returning to the venue of the party meeting at midnight after about an hour. Three hours after that, the talks closed. Ramaphosa, the de-facto president-in-waiting, had been in negotiations with Zuma who rejected an earlier request from party leaders to step down more than a week ago.
