South African President Jacob Zuma survived a rebellion in his own African National Congress, his spokesman said Tuesday, after discussions over his future in the party’s top decision-making panel dragged on for three days.
“He is the president, yes. Of both the ANC and the country,” said Mr. Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga. The three-day meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee presented the biggest challenge yet to Mr. Zuma’s seven-year presidency. Tweets by participants in the meeting, which ended late Monday, and local media reports suggested members of the 86-person NEC were taking turns speaking out in favor or against the president staying in office.
Several newspapers reported that at least three members of Mr. Zuma’s cabinet had supported holding a no-confidence motion against him. Spokesmen for the ministers either declined to comment or couldn’t be reached.
The ANC has said that it will hold a news conference later Tuesday, which is expected to chart out the way forward for the president and the party ahead of 2019 general elections.
The ANC is scheduled to hold its main congress in late 2017, which would be a natural moment for slotting in not only a new party leader but also a new president ahead of the national vote. One option would be to bring forward those deliberations.
Some analysts speculated that the failed insurgency against Mr. Zuma could herald a shake-up in South Africa’s cabinet, with those who spoke out against the president being replaced by loyalists.
“It is possible that the President will consider a cabinet reshuffle, or even that ministers will resign en masse,” South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank said in a research note.
The focus here will be on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who is seen as one of the of the voices most critical of the president—although he wasn’t reported to be one of the ministers to have actively pushed for Mr. Zuma’s ouster at the NEC meeting. Both Messrs. Gordhan and Zuma have said they are working together to improve South Africa’s economy.
Other commentators said they expected that Mr. Zuma’s weakened state would require him to keep opponents on board.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is expected to release its review of South Africa’s credit worthiness Friday. The agency, which has South Africa just one notch above junk with a negative outlook, has previously warned about the risks to the economy from the political turmoil.
The 74-year-old Mr. Zuma, who was on his way Tuesday to attend the funeral of Fidel Castro in Cuba, has been met by an accelerating onslaught of corruption allegations, along with criticism of his handling of the economy and the ANC’s poor performance in August’s local elections.
In March, South Africa’s highest court found he had violated the Constitution by refusing to repay taxpayer money used to remodel his private home. Mr. Zuma has since repaid some of the funds.
A month later, another court ruled that a 2009 decision to drop corruption charges against Mr. Zuma was ‘irrational’ and should be reviewed. The president has denied any wrongdoing.
The biggest setback for Mr. Zuma came this month, when an official report from the country’s top corruption watchdog said there were ‘worrying’ indications that he allowed a family of rich businessmen to direct cabinet appointments and gain overly generous state contracts.
Mr. Zuma on Friday said he would go to court to challenge the report.
