Zuma ‘given 24 hours’ to resign
President told to quit – or else – after marathon NEC meeting
HOURS of wrangling by the ANC national executive committee (NEC) over President Jacob Zuma’s fate were followed by a flurry of activity shortly before midnight, with unconfirmed reports emerging that Zuma had been given between 24 and 48 hours to resign or face a vote of no confidence in parliament.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa drove to Zuma’s official residence, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, as the clock clicked towards midnight following the marathon nine-hour NEC meeting.
The meeting with Zuma ended at about 11.50pm, and Ramaphosa left Mahlamba Ndlopfu near the Union Buildings in Pretoria to return to the NEC meeting.
About 20 minutes later, the motorcade was seen arriving back at the hotel in Irene outside Pretoria where the special NEC meeting was being held.
Sources said the NEC had sent Ramaphosa and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule to inform Zuma that the decision-making body had decided he should step down as head of state.
At least four sources with intimate knowledge of the discussions said the NEC had decided that Zuma must step down immediately or face a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly.
“President Ramaphosa was sent to Mahlamba Ndlopfu to deliver the NEC message to Zuma that he should resign with immediate effect, with dignity, or be humiliated and recalled within the next 24 hours,” a senior ANC leader said.
The SABC, meanwhile, reported that Zuma had been given 48 hours to quit.
This comes after Ramaphosa left the special NEC meeting shortly after 10.30pm – in the first major movement since the meeting got under way at 2pm to discuss Zuma’s future.
He drove out in a cavalcade of at least 10 VIP Presidential Protection Unit vehicles.
A large media contingent of both South African and international journalists waited outside the hotel.
Shortly after Ramaphosa left, a black BMW police vehicle with a Free State licence plate left the venue, followed by what appeared to be Magashule’s bodyguards.
The ANC had been locked in closed-door discussions for hours, wrangling over the fate of Zuma after he refused to resign.
As the hours ticked by and the powerful 107-member NEC continued to deliberate, journalists outside the venue were kept in the dark about developments at the meeting.
Just like at the party’s 5th policy conference and the 54th national elective conference‚ the ANC clamped down on leaks‚ preventing NEC members from entering the meeting with their cellphones for fear of leaks to the media before an official announcement is made.
Significantly, all of the NEC members were still sitting tight at 1am, with no one emerging from the hotel after Ramaphosa’s departure or return.
Ramaphosa had assured the nation on Sunday that the Zuma matter would be finalised by the NEC yesterday.
The ANC is facing mounting pressure from opposition parties, who said yesterday that they would move to have parliament dissolved.
This would result in fresh elections, should they succeed.
They have also given National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete until today to bring forward the EFF’s motion of no confidence against
Zuma. Parliament has already scheduled it for February 22, the day after the budget is delivered, but opposition parties want it brought forward.
They are prepared to lose their own seats in parliament to get their point across.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said yesterday they could no longer be “spectators to the ANC’s discussion in the bush as opposed to engaging parliament on what must be done”.
EFF leader Julius Malema said Mbete had not responded to his party’s request to move up the vote.
“If she does not by 10am [today], we will pursue an urgent application in that regard because we are in a crisis as things stand,” he said.
However, parliament said National Assembly Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli, on behalf of Mbete, had responded to the EFF’s request.
It said she had told Malema and his attorneys in a letter yesterday that she was consulting on the request, as the rules of the National Assembly entailed consultation with relevant structures, including ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu and Ramaphosa. She said she would revert back to Malema. Maimane wrote to Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise yesterday, requesting the dissolution of parliament in terms of section 50 of the constitution and an early election.
“This section of the constitution envisages a situation such as the one that we find ourselves in whereby the country needs a fresh beginning and a fresh mandate,” he wrote.
“Moreover, whoever succeeds Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC does so with the mandate of the ANC and not the people of South Africa.”
If parliament is dissolved, early elections will need to take place within 90 days.