Cape Town – The ANC national executive committee (NEC) has decided to recall President Jacob Zuma at its marathon meeting in Irene on Monday.

This brings to an end the stand-off between ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and Zuma.

The writing seemed on the wall for Zuma on Sunday, when Ramaphosa announced, in his address at the launch of the ANC’s Nelson Mandela centenary celebration in Cape Town, that the matter would be resolved at Monday’s NEC meeting.

“As the leadership of the African National Congress, we are currently engaged in discussions around the transition to a new administration and specifically to resolve the issues of the position of the President of the Republic,” he said.

“The successful resolution of this matter has significant consequences for the country and for the African National Congress.”

Ramaphosa didn’t provide any detail on the discussions he had with Zuma. However, he said it was important that these discussions were managed with “care and purpose”.

“The NEC will be meeting tomorrow [Monday] to discuss this very matter and because our people want this matter to be finalised, the NEC will be doing precisely that.

Ramaphosa postponed an ANC NEC meeting last Wednesday that would have decided Zuma’s fate after the president told the top six that he would not resign. Instead, Ramaphosa continued talks with Zuma, who apparently had a set of conditions for his resignation.

On Thursday, Ramaphosa reportedly told the ANC caucus that immunity for Zuma was not on the table.

Last week, Parliament’s presiding officers, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise announced the unprecedented decision to postpone the State of the Nation Address, which was scheduled for last Thursday. There had been mounting pressure on Zuma not to deliver the annual address to both houses of Parliament.

The NEC is, according to the ANC’s constitution, mandated to remove its public office bearers. 

On Sunday morning, News24 reported that cautious NEC members want the party’s highest decision-making body, between conferences, to also give the Parliamentary caucus a mandate to support a motion of no confidence against Zuma, in case he defies the NEC decision to recall him.

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