South Africa's ANC to hold meeting as pressure mounts on Zuma

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South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) will convene a special meeting of its decision-making executive on Monday, its spokesman said, amid mounting pressure on President Jacob Zuma to step down.

The ANC called off a similar meeting scheduled for last Wednesday to discuss Zuma's future after the president and party leader Cyril Ramaphosa agreed to hold talks for a transition of power.

South African President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa attend Cabinet Committee meetings in Cape Town, South Africa, February 7, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The party has only said that those talks were "constructive."

A group of ANC members briefed the media on Sunday to say that they would camp out at the official government Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday until Zuma resigns.

They said Zuma needed to step down to save the ANC from collapse.

The camp will be attended by the South African Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Unions, among other organizations, the members said.

Zuma, South Africa's most controversial president since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, has been in a weakened position since he was replaced as ANC leader by Deputy President Ramaphosa in December.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma sings next to newly elected president of the ANC Cyril Ramaphosa during the 54th National Conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 18, 2017. /VCG Photo

Zuma, who no longer holds a top position in the party, has not said whether he will resign voluntarily before his second term as president ends in the middle of next year.

ANC spokesman Pule Mabe could not say whether Monday's special meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) would discuss Zuma's political future.

The NEC is a key ANC decision-making body that has the power to instruct Zuma to resign.

"We do have a meeting tomorrow, we are unable to speak about the agenda at this stage," Mabe said on Sunday.

A senior ANC source told Reuters the meeting was scheduled to take place at 12:00 GMT in Pretoria on Monday.

"We expect to discuss Zuma's future," another source said.

Zuma has overseen a tumultuous nine years in power marked by economic decline and numerous allegations of corruption.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency