Leaders of the African National Congress will hold a news conference Tuesday morning, where they are expected to announce their decision to remove embattled President Jacob Zuma as head of state.

News outlets say the ANC’s national executive committee decided to recall Zuma in the predawn hours Tuesday after a marathon 13-hour meeting in Pretoria. The decision was apparently sealed after ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa privately met with Zuma late Monday night in Pretoria as the talks dragged on. Earlier reports from state broadcaster SABC said the committee had given Zuma 48 hours to turn in his resignation.

The decision to remove Zuma from office came after a week of negotiations with the scandal-scarred president failed to convince him to quit.

Pressure has mounted on the the 75-year-old Zuma to step down since Ramaphosa took over as ANC head in December, defeating the president’s ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamina-Zuma. The political turmoil forced the cancellation of Zuma’s annual State of the Nation address before a joint session of Parliament last week. 

Zuma is scheduled to step down next year. An opposition coalition led by the Democratic Alliance and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters says it will demand parliament be dissolved and early elections held once Zuma is out.

Zuma has been marred by corruption allegations, coupled with South Africa’s economic decline, since he assumed the presidency in 2009 after engineering the ouster of former President Thabo Mbeki, who was accused of abuse of power. 
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