Cape Town - African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa was engaged in a range of activities in Cape Town on Sunday morning, this as the country still awaited news on the fate of embattled head of state Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa attended a service at St George's Cathedral on Sunday morning and was set to be the main speaker at the centennial celebrations of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela's birth which were set to take place at the Grand Parade in the city. Sunday also marks 28 years since Mandela was released from decades in prison and made his first public address from the City Hall balcony overlooking the Grand Parade.
Earlier Sunday, the ANC called a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting for Monday, with speculation mounting that Zuma's exit is imminent.
According to a notice to all NEC members, the meeting will be held at 2pm at the St George Hotel in Irene‚ Pretoria. It is not clear what the agenda for the meeting is.
A smiling Ramaphosa, meanwhile, could be seen emerging from St George's cathedral, greeting members of the public, and at one stage picking up a small child.
Read more:
Among those who could be seen alongside Ramaphosa, were deputy international relations minister and former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo.
The ANC leadership under party president Ramaphosa are engaged in crucial talks with Zuma over the latter's exit from public office.
Ramaphosa, who has been locked in talks with Zuma for most of the week, had on Thursday cancelled his own public programme for Friday which was to have included interacting with the public at Mitchell's Plain train station, meeting with the family of anti-apartheid leader Dullah Omar, as well as laying a wreath at the Trojan Horse site in Athlone, among other engagements.
On Friday, the party announced that the programmes of the rest of its top six officials, including secretary-general Ace Magashule, had also been cancelled, this as speculation reached fever pitch that Zuma was on the verge of exiting office.
In a momentous week in national politics, Parliament's presiding officers on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of postponing the state-of-the-nation address which had been scheduled for Thursday evening, while the ANC unexpectedly cancelled a crucial meeting that was supposed to provide clarity on Zuma's future.
There had been rising calls for Zuma to step down and to not deliver SONA, both from within his own party and the opposition, who have in recent years disrupted the state of the nation address in protest at Zuma's presence amid myriad scandals of corruption and state capture.