The leader of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) party said Sunday the party is to holding meeting to discuss the fate of the country's scandal-tainted president Jacob Zuma.
ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa said he has called a meeting of the party's national executive for Monday to discuss Zuma's position as president of the country "with care and purpose" as Ramaphosa and his allies lobby for Zuma to step down.
“Our people want this matter finalized. The National Executive Committee will be doing precisely that. We know you want closure on this matter," Ramaphosa told a crowd of supporters in Cape Town.
In 2009, just two weeks before Zuma led the African National Congress to victory at the polls, the National Prosecuting Authority dropped an eight-year-old corruption case against him. Politically, however, that case never went away: The opposition vowed not to let the matter drop, and has since used it to illustrate its lack of faith in the president through eight no-confidence votes in relation to his alleged corrupt acts before and during his presidency.
The ANC's parliamentary majority has allowed Zuma to survive each of those votes, but the latest one, in August, gave him a lean margin of 198 to 177.
Since Zuma was replaced as head of the ruling party in December, the ANC has turned against him, and a looming no-confidence vote scheduled for February 22 may succeed, if the ANC leadership doesn't convince him to step down first.