ANC asks Zuma to step down

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has asked President Jacob Zuma to resign.

Quoting a senior party official, BBC said the decision to recall Zuma “urgently” followed marathon talks of the ANC’s top leadership body.

Zuma, 75, agreed to step down, but only in the next three to six months, the official reportedly said.

Zuma has been in power since 2009. There are so many allegations of corruption levelled against him.

Ace Magashule, ANC’s secretary-general, told journalists that the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided that the removal should be “treated with urgency”.

“It is obvious we want Comrade Ramaphosa to come in as the president of South Africa,” he said.

Zuma came under intense pressure after Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy, emerged as the head of the ruling party in December.

Speaking to supporters in Cape Town on Sunday, Mr Ramaphosa said: “We know you want closure. Our people want this matter to be finalised.”

He acknowledged the ANC was going through “a period of difficulty, disunity and discord”, and said he was seeking “a new beginning”.

He pledged to tackle the corruption that has “marred” Zuma’s nine years in office.

Ramaphosa urged South Africans to restore the values embodied by Nelson Mandela – the country’s first black president, also known as Madiba – and said those who had stolen state assets would be brought to justice.

“We must work together as Madiba taught us to push back the frontiers of poverty, unemployment and inequality,” he said.