Zuma will quit, says ANC leader
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa’s leader-in-waiting has vowed a ‘‘speedy resolution’’ to the country’s political paralysis amid the first indications that President Jacob Zuma has promised to quit.
Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday he sympathised with the ‘‘anxiety and concern’’ felt by many South Africans at the turmoil that has engulfed the leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). However, he needed to iron out some ‘‘pertinent matters’’ with Zuma before the discredited president would step aside.
This could take a few days, said Ramaphosa, the new ANC president, who is trying to lever Zuma from office.
The power struggle has brought much of the country’s government to a halt, postponing indefinitely the ceremonial opening of parliament, due tomorrow, and threatening to tarnish further the image of the ANC, which has ruled uninterrupted since the end of apartheid.
One ANC insider insisted that Ramaphosa was right to play a long game to ensure that the party was behind him, given that Zuma still had powerful supporters. ‘‘I expect Zuma to resign either at the weekend or early next week. There’s no way back for him now. We must just be patient,’’ he said.
Ramaphosa suggested that if he tried to force Zuma from office, he would open a damaging split within the ANC’s ranks and jeopardise support for his reformist agenda.
‘‘This is a challenging time for our country. Both President Zuma and myself are aware that our people want and deserve closure. The constructive process we have embarked on offers the greatest opportunity to conclude this matter without discord or division,’’ he said.
Ramaphosa was elected as the ANC’s president in December, but Zuma legally remains the country’s president until elections next year. Many in the ANC leadership want to get rid of Zuma, whose rule has become mired in corruption allegations. They want to deny him the chance to deliver the state of the union address at the opening of parliament, in which he could lay claim to much of the next 12 months.
Ramaphosa’s statement yesterday was his first public comment since he led a delegation of senior ANC figures to Zuma’s Pretoria home last weekend to persuade him to step down. Zuma refused, saying he had done nothing wrong.
One issue to be thrashed out concerns immunity from prosecution. Ramaphosa has indicated that he would not extend any such immunity, and has talked tough about taking on corruption.
The ANC’s ruling national executive committee postponed an urgent meeting after Ramaphosa indicated that he had held ‘‘fruitful’’ talks with Zuma.
Opposition parties said they would meet on Tuesday to press ahead with plans for a noconfidence vote in Zuma that has been tabled for February 22. ‘‘We cannot sit around and wait for the two centres of power to fight their war of attrition while our country is left in limbo,’’ they said in a statement.