South Africa's ANC to meet on Monday as Zuma deadlock tightens

CAPE TOWN, South Africa-The leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress said on Sunday that a protracted battle over the potential resignation of President Jacob Zuma will be concluded Monday.

SACP Western Cape chairperson Benson Ngqentsu said: "The longer you keep president Zuma in power, the worse off for the people, the worse off for South Africa". Zuma, whose presidency has been marked by numerous scandals, has stubbornly refused to budge.

"South Africans must appreciate that the leadership of the ANC is hard at work".

The uneasiness was heightened after the state of the nation address was for the first time postponed indefinitely last week. During a heated discussion, treasurer general Paul Mashatile reportedly told Zuma he was "the face of corruption". The ANC is running on an anti-corruption ticket. He also promised to tackle corruption.

A similar meeting of the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) was called off last week after direct talks between Mr Zuma and Mr Ramaphosa, who is the deputy president as well as the new leader of the party. "For now, I afford the ANC the opportunity to reflect within its own highest decision-making body, the NEC".

Ziyanda Peter, a 33-year-old unemployed mother of four from Langa township in Cape Town, is looking to Ramaphosa to rebuild the ANC and revive the hope that South Africans had for a better future when Mandela led the country. "This is informing our approach", he added.

"We should handle these discussions that are now under way with care and objective, ensuring that we put the interests of South Africans first", he said.

Sunday newspapers reported that Zuma was negotiating, among other things, an assurance that the state will take care of his legal fees, security for his family and immunity from prosecution. "We must keep our eyes on what is in the interests of all our people".

"Our people want this matter finalized".

"There is no disagreement about where we want to go (on Zuma) but the tactics on how to do that is the responsibility of leadership", Mantashe told the rally.

"But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die", said Mandela, who died in 2013 at the age of 95.

He said Ramaphosa had returned Gauteng province, where the ANC's headquarters is located in the country's commercial capital Johannesburg.

Ramaphosa delivered his speech at exactly the same venue and time when he held the microphone for Mandela's address 28 years ago on the day he was freed from a 27-year incarceration.

She also cautions against "picking a fight with someone who is not fighting you".