ANC agrees to oust Zuma as South African President

South Africa’s ruling party has agreed to remove Jacob Zuma as the country’s President.

South African President Jacob Zuma leaves parliament in Cape Town last week. Picture: AP

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has resolved to remove Jacob Zuma as head of state after marathon closed-door talks ended this morning.

The party’s powerful 107-member national executive committee met for 13 hours at a hotel outside Pretoria, and decided it to “recall” the scandal-tainted President, local media reported.

“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 Mr 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.

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.

President-in-waiting Cyril Ramaphosa admitted on Sunday to “disunity and discord” in the ANC as the deadlocked effort to oust Mr Zuma ground on.

Mr Ramaphosa outlined his wish to replace “a period of difficulty, disunity and discord” with “a new beginning” for the party, vowing to tackle alleged corruption that has tarnished Mr Zuma’s government.

“Because our people want this matter to be finalised, the national executive committee will be doing precisely that,” Mr Ramaphosa said.

AFP