The parliamentary caucus of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) is set to proceed with a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, the party's treasurer general said on Wednesday.
"I have now reported to the caucus that the NEC [national executive committee of ANC] has decided to recall President Zuma and the deadline [for Zuma to resign] is today," Mashatile told journalists after addressing caucus in Parliament.
"We have now asked the chief whip to proceed with the motion of no confidence tomorrow...so that President Zuma is then removed so that we can then proceed to elect President Ramaphosa..."
The motion of no confidence was brought by the ANC's political opponents, the Economic Freedom Fighters, and scheduled for February 22.
While the ANC cannot bring its own motion, which party chief whip Jackson Mthembu said would have been "ideal", parliamentary rules allow a party to bring an amendment to a motion. Essentially, what this means, said Mthembu, is that the ANC was not against the "substance of the motion", but would provide different reasons to Parliament on why Zuma should be removed from office through a no-confidence motion. The content of the amended motion was still being worked on.
"We are bringing in the ANC reasons why the president must be removed. It looks like we are all in agreement that the president must go...including the ANC," said Mthembu.
- African News Agency (ANA)
