By Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen
(Bloomberg) – The top leadership of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress will discuss the option of removing President Jacob Zuma from his post at a May 26-28 meeting, according to two senior party officials who will be in attendance and asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
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The ANC’s national executive committee is due to discuss a motion of no confidence in Zuma that has been filed by opposition parties in parliament. Some members of the panel will also raise the possibility of the ANC taking the matter into its own hands, according to the party officials, who sit on the decision-making panel. The rand gained as much as 1.5 percent against the dollar.
While the national executive committee rejected the possibility of removing Zuma at a meeting in November, opposition to his rule has mounted within the party’s ranks following his March 31 decision to fire Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, a move that prompted S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings to downgrade the nation’s sovereign credit rating to junk.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said that while the agenda will only be set at the meeting, the committee wouldn’t discuss Zuma’s removal.
