Society Gists

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has announced a “recall” of the country’s leader, Jacob Zuma, demanding that he resign in the face of a corruption scandal that has sapped support for the party once led by Nelson Mandela.

The recall, a powerful statement that the ANC no longer backs the President, was the culmination of a marathon meeting that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Top ANC officials, including party leader Cyril Ramaphosa, were unable to persuade Zuma to step down immediately.
Zuma must now decide whether to bow to the party’s demand — which has no constitutional effect — or cling on to power and face a vote of no confidence.

President Mandela is flanked by Zuma and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, left, at the ANC’s National Congress in 1997. At this conference, Mandela announced that he would be stepping down as president of the ANC and leaving it to Mbeki. Zuma would become the party’s deputy president. After Mbeki was elected to be the country’s President in 1999, Zuma was appointed as his deputy.

In 2005, a South African court found businessman Schabir Shaik guilty of bribing Zuma between 1995 and 2002. Zuma, seen here replying to a question in Parliament, was fired by President Mbaki over his alleged involvement in the bribery scandal.

Zuma leaves the Johannesburg High Court in February 2006. He had been charged with raping a young family friend; he claimed the sex was consensual. Zuma was acquitted a few months later.

Zuma and Obama shake hands before a group photo at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, in September 2016. In November of that year, a report was published that contained corruption allegations against Zuma. Zuma denied any wrongdoing. He also avoided a vote of no-confidence in Parliament. It was the third time in less than a year that Zuma had faced such a vote.
South African President Jacob Zuma has been in office for nearly a decade. As head of the party that led South Africa out of apartheid, Zuma won elections in 2009 and 2014. But he has also been dogged by criminal investigations and corruption allegations. Dubbed the “Teflon” President, Zuma has survived a half dozen no-confidence votes.

The political crisis is a headache for the ANC, which has been trying prise Zuma out for months. It dumped him as party leader in December, narrowly electing Ramaphosa, a millionaire former union leader, over Zuma’s preferred successor, his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Despite a growing clamor from opposition parties and signs that the ANC is losing electoral support over the protracted drama, divisions within the ANC have forced Ramaphosa to tread cautiously. For years, the ANC has put party unity first, even as it became apparent that Zuma was an electoral liability.
It was clear on Tuesday that Zuma was determined to cling on. ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule told a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday that Zuma had agreed to stand down — but only if he could oversee a transition period of three to six months. The ANC top brass rejected his offer.
“South Africa’s going through a period of uncertainty and anxiety as a result of the unresolved matter of transition,” Magashule said, adding that the decision to demand Zuma’s resignation was a difficult one “taken after exhaustive discussions.”
Magashule did not give a deadline for Zuma to go, underlining the ANC’s weakness in the face of Zuma’s ongoing determination to cling to power.
If he refuses to go, the ANC will be forced into the ignominious choice of siding with the opposition in a vote of no confidence in parliament, or put forward a motion of its own. The president’s term of office lasts until next year, and only parliament can remove him before then.
A no-confidence vote is scheduled for February 22 but opposition politicians have launched a court action to force the vote to happen this week. for the vote to happen this week.

South African President Jacob Zuma in London during a state visit on March 3, 2010.
Zuma, 75, had clung to power despite being mired in a slew of corruption scandals and survived opposition parties’ attempts to oust him. His ability to survive them earned him the nickname “Teflon President.”
Zuma faces more than 780 allegations of corruption relating to a 1990s arms deal. Zuma denies all the corruption allegations against him. More recently, he has been accused of using his friendship with three Indian businessman brothers, the Guptas, to cloud his judgment.