African National Congress leader Cyril Ramaphosa has held direct talks with Jacob Zuma over a transition of power, the strongest indication to date that the South African president will step down after years of scandal.
Zuma, in power since 2009 and beset by corruption allegations, has been in a weakened position since deputy president Ramaphosa replaced him as ANC leader in December.
Ramaphosa has talked of a transition of power since he took over as leader of the ANC.
- South African president Jacob Zuma denies dishonesty
- Jacob Zuma threatens to suspend prosecutor
- Massive brawl erupts in South African parliament
The 75-year-old Zuma has been South Africa's most controversial president since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, overseeing a troubled nine years marked by economic decline and numerous allegations of corruption.
In a statement, Ramaphosa said he and Zuma began the talks on Tuesday night and hoped to conclude their discussions and report back to country "in coming days", the first official confirmation of the talks between the two leaders.
Ramaphosa said the process was an opportunity to conclude the matter without causing discord in the country.
"We will be able to communicate further on President Zuma's position as president of the republic once we have finalised all pertinent matters," Ramaphosa said.
"This is a challenging time for our country. Both President Zuma and myself are aware that our people want and deserve closure.
"The constructive process we have embarked on offers the greatest opportunity to conclude this matter without discord or division."
Ramaphosa said following progress made at the talks between him and Zuma, the ANC had pushed back an urgent meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening of its national executive, which has the power to instruct Zuma to resign.
The delay increased speculation that a deal had been ironed out, some reports claiming he would resign as soon as a list of preconditions had been finalised.
Former union leader Ramaphosa has said he does not want to humiliate Zuma but has been lobbying behind the scenes for him to step down early.
Zuma is still fighting nearly 800 counts of corruption over an arms deal from the late 1990s and his ties with the Gupta brothers, a family of wealthy Indian-born businessmen, are the subject of a judicial inquiry on grand-level corruption.
Reuters
