Handle Zuma’s exit ‘as Mandela would have’

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, the leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), said the party’s executive body would meet today to finalise discussions on the future of President Jacob Zuma, who is under mounting pressure to step down.

At a rally to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela, Mr Ramaphosa said Mr Zuma’s exit should be undertaken in an orderly fashion just as the anti-apartheid figurehead would have handled it.

Mr Zuma, 75, in power since 2009 and mired in corruption allegations, has been living on borrowed time since Mr Ramaphosa took over his other role as leader of the party in December.

Addressing ANC supporters in Cape Town, Mr Ramaphosa, the deputy president, said: “The National Executive Committee of the ANC will be meeting tomorrow to discuss this very matter, and because our people want this matter to be finalised, the NEC will be doing precisely that.”

Though he avoided mentioning Mr Zuma by name, he spoke of a “transition of power” and said the ANC wanted to resolve issues around the “president of the country”.