South Africa's African National Congress party executive committee has decided to "recall," or remove, President Jacob Zuma as head of state, a senior ANC source told Reuters on Tuesday, after a 13-hour meeting of the party's top leadership.
Since Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected party leader in December, Zuma has faced mounting calls from his party to end his scandal-plagued second term scheduled to run out in mid-2019.
The 75-year-old Zuma has been South Africa's most controversial president since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, overseeing a tumultuous nine years marked by economic decline and numerous allegations of corruption.
The party's executive committee has the authority to order Zuma to step down as head of state, although there is domestic media speculation that he might refuse.
Ramaphosa, 65, went to meet Zuma late on Monday before returning to the meeting that sealed the president's fate.
"We decided to recall Zuma. He hasn't been told yet," the senior ANC source said.
"Cyril went to speak with him," the source said, adding that when Ramaphosa returned to the meeting, "the discussions were tense and difficult on whether to recall Zuma."