Progress in Zuma exit talks, says ANC

• Ramaphosa met Zuma in Cape Town on Tuesday night • State of nation address postponed

After a dramatic day in which the state of the nation address was postponed, the ANC at the eleventh hour called off a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting intended to recall President Jacob Zuma.

This sent the strongest signal yet that Zuma is about to resign. It came after ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa met Zuma in Cape Town on Tuesday night.

“By the directive of the ANC president we hereby inform you that after fruitful and constructive discussions between the ANC president and [Zuma] held this evening … [Ramaphosa] has postponed the special NEC meeting to sit on the 17 and 18 February 2018,” said a communication from the ANC secretary-general’s office.

It is understood that Ramaphosa made “progress” in his discussions with Zuma, indicating that the president may now be willing to resign. ANC spokesman Pule Mabe confirmed the postponement of the NEC meeting to Business Day.

Zuma refused to resign when the party’s officials asked him to do so, arguing that he had done nothing wrong.

Insiders say Zuma told the officials that the NEC had accepted his apology on Nkandla; that he had complied when the new leadership asked him to change the Eskom board; and that he had also set up a commission of inquiry into state capture, as requested. He said he did not see what was “new” to warrant his removal.

Zuma was warned by officials that he could lose his benefits if he faced parliamentary processes to effect his removal. To this he replied that he did not join the struggle for benefits.

Zuma urged the officials to have the NEC take a decision on his removal, which he indicated he would comply with.

However, there was still concern among some leaders that he will not resign, as former president Thabo Mbeki

did in 2008, once recalled by the NEC.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) reiterated its call for its alliance partner, the ANC, to recall Zuma if he continued to refuse to resign.

It also called on Zuma to deny or confirm “emerging information” that he was preparing to fire Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa “anytime from now” and replace him with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who he wants as acting president should he be removed.

The Presidency said on Tuesday night that the SACP allegation that Zuma wanted to fire Ramaphosa was “preposterous and outrageous”.

Should Zuma fail to resign once recalled, the ANC is poised to bring its own motion of no confidence against him.

For the first time in democratic SA, it was announced on Tuesday afternoon that the state of the nation address had been postponed, just two days before it was set to take place.

It would have been Zuma’s last address at the opening of Parliament.

This was despite presiding officers last week insisting that it would go ahead and preparations for the event had started.

The Presidency said it was Zuma who wrote to Parliament requesting the postponement, to which they acceded.

“The president has requested the postponement due to certain developments which make it not conducive to successfully hold the sitting and deliver the Sona [state of the nation address],” spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga said.

The first requests for the postponement came from opposition parties.

Following a meeting with political parties, which included the ANC, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise announced that the state of the nation address would be shifted to next week, although no fixed date was announced.

The ANC had also motivated to have Thursday’s event postponed. The presiding officers said they had met Zuma to inform him that the address was being postponed when he informed them that he was in the process of writing to them to request this. ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu welcomed the decision and said the party’s caucus, which is largely seen to be anti-Zuma, would wait for the NEC, following Wednesday’s meeting, to “give guidance … on the way forward”.

The DA has claimed credit for the postponement of the event, welcoming Mbete’s decision to accede to its request, which it made last week.

Luthuli House said it respected the decision taken by Parliament’s presiding officers.

The EFF welcomed the postponement as a move towards Zuma’s removal. It reiterated its call for a motion of no confidence in him.

The Congress of the People also welcomed the decision to postpone the event and urged the presiding officers of Parliament to urgently complete the rules for the impeachment of the president so that the legislature could carry out its task.