南非執政黨決定不再讓祖馬擔任總統

Leaders of the African National Congress will hold a news conference Tuesday morning, where they are expected to announce their decision to remove embattled President Jacob Zuma as head of state.

News outlets say the ANC's national executive committee decided to recall Zuma in the predawn hours Tuesday after a marathon 13-hour meeting in Pretoria. The decision was apparently sealed after ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa privately met with Zuma late Monday night in Pretoria as the talks dragged on. Earlier reports from state broadcaster SABC said the committee had given Zuma 48 hours to turn in his resignation.

The decision to remove Zuma from office came after a week of negotiations with the scandal-scarred president failed to convince him to quit.

Pressure has mounted on the 75-year-old Zuma to step down since Ramaphosa took over as ANC head in December, defeating the president's ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamina-Zuma. The political turmoil forced the cancellation of Zuma's annual State of the Nation address before a joint session of Parliament last week.

Zuma is scheduled to step down next year. An opposition coalition led by the Democratic Alliance and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters says it will demand parliament be dissolved and early elections held once Zuma is out.南非執政的非國大的領導人星期二上午舉行記者會，預計宣佈他們決定不再讓身陷麻煩的祖馬總統繼續擔任國家元首。

媒體報道說，非國大的全國執行委員會在普利托利亞經過13小時的馬拉松會議後星期二凌晨決定罷免祖馬。看來這項決定是在非國大主席拉馬福薩星期一深夜在普利托利亞與祖馬私下會面後最後做出的。南非國家廣播電臺早些時候的報道說，非國大全國執行委員會要求祖馬在48小時內提出辭職。

非國大做出決定前，與醜聞纏身的祖馬進行了一個星期爭取他辭職的談判，但是無果而終。

自從拉馬福薩去年12月在競選中擊敗祖馬的前妻擔任非國大主席以來，要求75歲的祖馬辭職的壓力日益增加。政治動亂迫使祖馬定於上星期對議會兩院做國情諮文的計劃取消。

祖馬的任期明年到期。一個由民主聯盟和經濟自由戰士黨領導的反對派聯盟說，在祖馬下臺後，將要求解散議會，提前舉行選舉。