South Africa's ANC to hold special meeting amid Zuma standoff

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) will convene a special meeting of its decision-making executive on Monday, its spokesman said, amid mounting pressure on President Jacob Zuma to step down.

The ANC called off a similar meeting scheduled for last Wednesday to discuss Zuma’s future after the president and new party leader Cyril Ramaphosa agreed to hold talks for a transition of power.

The party has only said that those talks were “constructive”.

Zuma, South Africa’s most controversial president since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, has been in a weakened position since he was replaced as ANC leader by Deputy President Ramaphosa in December.

Zuma, who no longer holds a top position in the party, has not said whether he will resign voluntarily before his second term as president ends in the middle of next year.

ANC spokesman Pule Mabe could not say whether Monday’s special meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) would discuss Zuma’s political future.

NEC is a key ANC decision-making body that has the power to instruct Zuma to resign.

“We do have a meeting tomorrow, we are unable to speak about the agenda at this stage,” Mabe said on Sunday.

A senior ANC source told Reuters the meeting was scheduled to take place at 1200 GMT in Pretoria on Monday.

“We expect to discuss Zuma’s future,” another source said.

Zuma has overseen a tumultuous nine years in power marked by economic decline and numerous allegations of corruption.

REUTERS