[LATEST]
Chief Justice Moegoeng Mogoeng will officiate in the elction of a new president on Thursday. It would have happened on Friday, it will now happen on Thursday.
The note circulated among chief whips in parliament:
Dear Hon Members
The Chief Whip of the Majority Party wishes to inform you of the following:
The Chief Whip of the Majority Party has been informed by the Speaker that the Chief Justice is making himself available after the Motion of No Confidence to officiate in the election of the new President of South Africa.
This item was scheduled for Friday morning. We are now moving it forward to Thursday afternoon or evening.
[EARLIER[
President Jacob Zuma is addressing the nation from the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
1. "I have learned that a decision has been made that I have been compelled to resign through a motion of no confidence."
2. "The ANC is the party that nominated me for candidate of president after we won the national election in 2014."
3. "I was elected as president of the republic."
4. "I am forever indepted to the ANC, the liberation mocement I served almost all my life."
5. "I respect every leader oft his glorious movement. I respect its gallant fight against centuries of white domination, which continues to be entrenched in order to ensure the continued survival of white privilege."
6. "I respect the ANC that it deployed me at the pinnacle of its role in government."
7. "I was also elected in terms of section 86 of the Constitution and pledged my loyalty to the Constitution."
8. "It has been a great learning curve, a massive task."
9. "I will continue to serve the ANC in its pursuit of the national democratic revolution."
10. "Constitutional line between party and state often forgotten in normal party contestations."
11. "Oppressors of yesterday joyfully celebrate as we lynch each other."
12. "We tend to place party above the supreme law of the country."
13. "I respect the Constitution and its prescripts, how we enter and leave office."
14. "Some ahve dared to suggests one's cheques and post-service benefits should determine when we leave."
15. "This is often raised by people who speak as paragon of virtue and constitutionalism."
16. "Office benefits should not determine how we act in the time of our departure."
17. "I did not agree to serve in order to leave with perks and benefits when I leave."
18. "It is my party that elected, availed me to serve on the basis of the Constitution."
19. "No leader should stay beyond the time when his people want."
20. "I don't fear leaving political office."
21. "I asked my party to articulate my transactions . . . I mean, transgressions."
22. "There indeed was an agreement where I would leave before my terms ends."
23. "I would have delegated functions to my deputy."
24. "If my party and my compatriots wish I be removed from office, they must do so in a manner prescribed by the Constitution."
25. "I fear no motion of no confidence or impeachment, they are the mechanisms the people of this beautiful land use."
26. "I served, and is grateful that I could serve the people of this country."
27. "i undertook to subject myself to the supreme law of the land, the Constitution."
28. [In Zulu] "I am not scared of any motion, I am not here for perks and benefits and I believe I have done my job."
29. Zuma thanks Cabinet colleagues, other arms of state, opposition parties, stakeholders like business and labour: "I will cherish this honour for the rest of my life."
30. "I have been disturbed by the violence because of the different views in our organisation. No life should be lost in my name. The ANC should never be divided in my name."
31. "I have come to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect."
32. "Even though I disagree with the decision."
33. "The ANC is the organisation I have served all my life, I will use all my energy to attain the policies of our organisation, in particular the radical economic transformation agenda."
[EARLIER]
President Jacob Zuma's office has announced that he will make a public statement on Wednesday evening at 10pm.
This comes after two weeks of negotiations between Zuma and the ANC's leadership on his resignation. Zuma wanted to remain in office for another three more months but the party's national executive committee rejected his proposal and opted to recall him earlier this week.
After Zuma still refused to tender his resignation immediately after the recall, National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete, with the ANC's intervention, then opted to bring forward the EFF's parliamentary motion of no confidence against Zuma to Thursday.
On Wednesday, in an interview with the SABC, Zuma said he did not agree with the ANC's decision to recall him. He said the decision was unfair. He repeated on numerous occasions that he had asked the party what he had done wrong, a question that he said officials did not have an answer to.
Will Zuma finally announce his resignation?
Zuma has been on the ropes since his preferred candidate and ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, lost to current ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa at the party's national conference in December last year.
The conference came at a time when there were heightened calls from within the ANC and its alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP — as well as from civil-society organisations and the public — for Zuma to be recalled.
Ramaphosa backers previously told HuffPost that strategies around Zuma's exit were discussed "around the time of the new year", but that his camp wanted to keep it "tidy". At the time, there were also reports that Zuma was negotiating an exit deal — one that would see him receiving amnesty over state-capture allegations, and the ANC or the state footing his legal bills.
Earlier this month, at the NEC's two-day meeting, a motion to discuss Zuma's removal was brought by newly elected NEC member David Masondo and backed by deputy minister of agriculture Bheki Cele.
Sources told HuffPost that a committee had been set up to facilitate the "speedy transition" of Zuma's stepping down. The source said there was little resistance from the NEC on the matter, including from Zuma sympathisers.
Earlier in February, the ANC's top six met with Zuma to discuss the transition to a new head of state. Zuma reportedly refused to step down. The top six, led by Ramaphosa, reported the outcomes of the meeting to the ANC's national working committee (NWC), which scheduled an urgent meeting of the NEC, at which Zuma's removal was set to be discussed.
But at the eleventh hour, the state of the nation address — which was to be delivered by Zuma — as well as the NEC meeting were postponed. This came after Ramaphosa met with Zuma the day before the highly anticipated NEC meeting.