Cape Town - Senior ANC members attending the ruling party's National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting tabled a motion of no
confidence on Saturday against president Jacob Zuma, News24
reported on its website.
Citing four unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the
meeting of the NEC, News24 said
the motion of no confidence was proposed by a senior NEC member
and supported by the current health minister and his deputy,
among others.
The ANC's spokesman Zizi Kodwa, who earlier in the week
denied a Bloomberg report saying Zuma's removal would be
discussed, was not immediately available on Saturday evening.
Earlier the ANC's secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, told
reporters that Zuma's removal was not on the NEC agenda.
"We are reading in newspapers that there is going to be
blood on the floor. We have not seen that blood on the floor,
yet," Mantashe said in comments broadcast live on eNCA
television.
Zuma has been under increasing pressure to step down from
party veterans and members of the African National Congress's
communist and union alliance partners, as a series of scandals
threaten to erode the ruling party's dominance before the 2019
general vote.
The Public Protector published
a report in November that alleged Zuma was influenced by the
Guptas. Zuma resisted calls to resign over those claims, which both
he and the Guptas have denied.
The ANC stood by Zuma at a similar meeting in November in a
debate about whether he should step down, and analysts
discounted suggestions that he might be ousted or might quit
before his term as party head ends in December.
The NEC discussions continue on Sunday.