ANC to hold crisis meeting to discuss Zuma's future

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) will hold an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss President Jacob Zuma’s future as head of state after overnight talks with the scandal-plagued 75-year-old failed to secure his departure.

Opposition parties and some in the ANC want him to go before his State of the Nation address to parliament, scheduled for Thursday.

Zuma, who has been in power since 2009, has faced growing pressure to resign since he was replaced as leader of the ANC in December by the deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa,

The ANC has summoned its National Working Committee to meet at the party’s headquarters in downtown Johannesburg.

In order for the party to force Zuma to resign as state president, the NWC would have to call a meeting of the National Executive Committee, its top decision-making body, to vote on Zuma’s exit.

The ANC’s top six most powerful officials met Zuma late on Sunday at his official residence in Pretoria but there was no announcement of the outcome.