Zuma uncertainty weakens support for ruling party

JOHANNESBURG — The chairman of South Africa’s ruling party on Saturday tried to ease national anxiety about President Jacob Zuma’s fate, saying the country should be patient and wait for a conclusion to private talks with the embattled leader about his possible resignation.

Zuma is under heavy pressure to quit because of corruption scandals and has been engaged in days of negotiations about a power transition with Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy and expected successor.

Gwede Mantashe, national chairman of the African National Congress, said at a party rally that Ramaphosa should be given a chance to finish the discussions, which are coming under criticism from some who suspect the president is angling for concessions.

“Allow him to lead,” Mantashe said of Ramaphosa, who on Wednesday said he anticipated a “speedy resolution” to his talks with Zuma. Still, the delay and lack of clarity is frustrating opposition leaders who have described the process as backroom dealing that plays into the president’s hands and is an affront to democratic principles.

Ramaphosa is to deliver a major speech on Sunday, the 28th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. Jailed for 27 years, the antiapartheid leader addressed a crowd in Cape Town on Feb. 11, 1990 and was elected as South Africa’s first black president four years later. He died in 2013 at the age of 95.

Mantashe said the ruling party must reverse a decline in popularity that has gone on for more than a decade. Scandals linked to Zuma have played a major role in sapping support for the ANC, which has led South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994. Backing peaked in 2004 with nearly 70 percent of the vote but declined to 62 percent in 2014.