South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) leader Cyril Ramaphosa has said the party's executive body would meet on Monday to finalise discussions on the future of President Jacob Zuma, who is under mounting pressure to step down.
Speaking at a rally as part of celebrations marking 100 years since the birth of former president Nelson Mandela, he said Mr Zuma's exit should be undertaken in an orderly fashion just as the anti-apartheid icon would have handled it.
Mr Zuma, in power since 2009 and mired in corruption allegations, has been living on borrowed time since Mr Ramaphosa took over his other role as leader of the ruling party in December.
Addressing ANC supporters in Cape Town, Mr Ramaphosa, who is deputy president, said: "The National Executive Committee of the ANC will be meeting tomorrow to discuss this very matter, and because our people want this matter to be finalised, the NEC will be doing precisely that."
The party's National Executive Committee has the power to instruct Mr Zuma, 75, to resign.
Though he avoided mentioning the president by name, Mr Ramaphosa spoke several times of a "transition of power" in reference to talks on Mr Zuma's future and said the ANC wanted to resolve issues around the "president of the country".
In a speech which also marked 28 years to the day since Nelson Mandela was released from an apartheid-era prison, he said the talks on Mr Zuma's future should be handled in an orderly, purposeful manner, "in Madiba's way of doing things," - using Mr Mandela's clan name.
Mr Ramaphosa was at Mr Mandela's side, holding a microphone, when the leader addressed thousands outside Cape Town's city hall on the same day 28 years ago after his release.
The ANC called off a special meeting of its executive body on Mr Zuma scheduled for last Wednesday after he and Mr Ramaphosa agreed to hold talks on a handover of power.
The party has only said that the talks were "constructive".
ANC spokesman Pule Mabe said the executive committee's meeting tomorrow had been brought forward from next weekend, because of the urgency of the leadership issue.
Mr Zuma, who no longer holds a top position in the party, has not said whether he will resign voluntarily before his second term as president ends in the middle of next year.
He also faces another no-confidence vote against his leadership in parliament on 22 February, brought by the ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters party.
