President Jacob Zuma says he is ready to step down as ANC president and make way for a successor, News24 reported. Zuma reportedly made the remarks during an OR Tambo lecture in Kagiso near Johannesburg on Sunday.
"I will have time to talk to branches in whatever way I want. I am very happy that I am leaving my position in December," Zuma reportedly said.
He said that he would respond to his detractors after he is no longer ANC president.
"As a president, I have to uphold the values of the ANC. I have to maintain a certain standard, but after December, when someone insults me, I will have an opportunity to talk back. At conferences, I will be an ordinary delegate like everyone else."
The event was reportedly decked out with regalia showing support for presidential hopeful, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Zuma reportedly decried leaders who used OR Tambo lectures to attack other leaders.
"Some used this opportunity to attack the organisation and other leaders. They acted like they knew Tambo, some even said there is no longer a good leadership in the party."
Zuma also said that the ANC's problems came from outside the organisation, suggesting that they were being fanned by ratings agencies and the West.
Zuma said people had been accusing him of wrongdoing, but that there was nothing that he had done wrong.