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The ANC expects that its MPs will vote party president Cyril Ramaphosa as the new head of state when Parliament convenes, ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said.
Duarte was speaking on Wednesday night just minutes after President Jacob Zuma tendered his resignation “with immediate effect”.
Duarte told a media briefing at Luthuli House that Zuma’s exit “provides certainty” at a time when the country is pressed to focus on economic growth in a bid to create jobs.
She said the ANC national executive committee’s decision on Monday to recall Zuma was taken after exhaustive discussions on the impact to government and the party.
Following Zuma’s refusal to step down, the ANC had initiated processes in Parliament to remove him through a motion of no confidence scheduled for Thursday.
It is expected that Zuma’s resignation – just after 10pm on Wednesday night – means that the motion will be scrapped, and the next programme would be the election of a new head of state.
Duarte said the ANC expected that the opposition would also field its own presidential candidate.
She said the ANC was grateful for Zuma’s 60 years of service in the party as “a principled member”. “We hope that he will continue to work with the ANC,” she said.
Among Zuma’s achievements in office, Duarte counted the National Development Plan, the roll out of antiretrovirals, progress in implementing the National Health Insurance scheme and the formation of a ministry of rural development.
