Mr. Zuma<\/a>, a charismatic anti-apartheid hero who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and was once the A.N.C.\u2019s intelligence chief. Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president whose election as A.N.C. leader in December set off a power struggle with Mr. Zuma, immediately became acting president.<\/p>\nInitially Mr. Zuma\u2019s presidency inspired hope in millions of South Africans, especially the poorest. But, tainted by numerous accusations of misconduct, he came to symbolize the corruption that flourished during his time in office.Influence peddling in his administration was so widespread, according to the nation\u2019s former public protector, that it became a form of state capture in which Mr. Zuma\u2019s business partners or friends influenced government decisions in their personal interest.<\/p>\n
Now, his departure as president leaves South Africa with a disillusioned electorate, a weakened economy and a tarnished image in the rest of Africa.<\/p>\n
Only hours before his resignation he sounded defiant and aggrieved during a live interview with the state broadcaster SABC, after party leaders threatened to hold the no-confidence vote on Thursday. He indicated strongly that he would not resign, saying that the party\u2019s effort to pull him from office was \u201cunfair,\u201d that he was being \u201cvictimized,\u201d and that he had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n
But by Wednesday night, whatever narrow paths of escape he may have hoped for earlier had closed.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma, who throughout his long career had overcome scandals with a combination of guile and boldness, said he did \u201cnot fear exiting political office.\u201d He expressed contrition, though only fleetingly, saying that in executing his political responsibilities, he had not been \u201cthe epitome of perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf truth be told,\u201d he added, \u201cnone of us are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma still faces possible corruption charges for an arms deal in the 1990s, before he was president. If he had remained in office, he might also have faced impeachment proceedings stemming from another corruption case, related to the misuse of public funds for upgrades to his homestead.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr. Ramaphosa is almost certain to be chosen by Parliament to become the nation\u2019s fifth president since the end of apartheid in 1994; all have been members of the A.N.C.<\/p>\n
The resignation was the culmination of a long internal fight, pitting Mr. Zuma\u2019s supporters against an ascendant faction led by Mr. Ramaphosa, who pushed the president to step down before the end of his full term in mid-2019. The balance finally tipped against Mr. Zuma when the majority of party leaders concluded that the A.N.C.\u2019s interests, and their own, would be better served under a new head of state.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, after more than a week of failed efforts by Mr. Ramaphosa to ease Mr. Zuma out office, party leaders ordered him to step down, saying his continued presence as the nation\u2019s leader would \u201cerode the renewed hope and confidence among South Africans,\u201d and indicating that he was hurting the party\u2019s electoral prospects.<\/p>\n
Now, his departure as president leaves South Africa with a disillusioned electorate, a weakened economy and a tarnished image in the rest of Africa.<\/p>\n
Only hours before his resignation he sounded defiant and aggrieved during a live interview with the state broadcaster SABC, after party leaders threatened to hold the no-confidence vote on Thursday. He indicated strongly that he would not resign, saying that the party\u2019s effort to pull him from office was \u201cunfair,\u201d that he was being \u201cvictimized,\u201d and that he had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n
But by Wednesday night, whatever narrow paths of escape he may have hoped for earlier had closed.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma, who throughout his long career had overcome scandals with a combination of guile and boldness, said he did \u201cnot fear exiting political office.\u201d He expressed contrition, though only fleetingly, saying that in executing his political responsibilities, he had not been \u201cthe epitome of perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf truth be told,\u201d he added, \u201cnone of us are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma still faces possible corruption charges for an arms deal in the 1990s, before he was president. If he had remained in office, he might also have faced impeachment proceedings stemming from another corruption case, related to the misuse of public funds for upgrades to his homestead.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr. Ramaphosa is almost certain to be chosen by Parliament to become the nation\u2019s fifth president since the end of apartheid in 1994; all have been members of the A.N.C.<\/p>\n
The resignation was the culmination of a long internal fight, pitting Mr. Zuma\u2019s supporters against an ascendant faction led by Mr. Ramaphosa, who pushed the president to step down before the end of his full term in mid-2019. The balance finally tipped against Mr. Zuma when the majority of party leaders concluded that the A.N.C.\u2019s interests, and their own, would be better served under a new head of state.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, after more than a week of failed efforts by Mr. Ramaphosa to ease Mr. Zuma out office, party leaders ordered him to step down, saying his continued presence as the nation\u2019s leader would \u201cerode the renewed hope and confidence among South Africans,\u201d and indicating that he was hurting the party\u2019s electoral prospects.<\/p>\n
That set off a tumultuous Wednesday of moves and countermoves that ended with Mr. Zuma\u2019s late-night resignation.<\/p>\n
In the morning, Mr. Zuma\u2019s administration appeared to schedule an address to the nation by Mr. Zuma at 10 a.m., but an hour before it was scheduled to start issued a statement saying no such briefing was planned.<\/p>\n
As Mr. Zuma remained defiantly silent, the police\u2019s investigative unit \u2014 which has long been subject to political interference \u2014 raided the residence in Johannesburg of the Guptas, a family with wide-ranging business interests and close ties to one of the president\u2019s sons and his political allies, and arrested three people.<\/p>\n
The intended message, political analysts said, was that those closest to Mr. Zuma, or even Mr. Zuma himself, could be next unless he acceded to the party\u2019s order to quit.<\/p>\n
Then, a few hours after that, as Mr. Zuma gave no indication of responding to his party\u2019s order, A.N.C. leaders escalated the pressure. If the president did not resign by the end of the day, they said, they would move to remove him through a vote of no confidence the next day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball is in his court,\u201d said Paul Mashatile, the party\u2019s treasurer general and a Ramaphosa ally.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma broke his silence with the SABC interview shortly after that, before finally resigning during his address to the nation.<\/p>\n
The developments were a clear sign of how much had changed in the two months since Mr. Ramaphosa was chosen to succeed Mr. Zuma as the leader of the A.N.C., creating what South Africans refer to as the two centers of power \u2014 the presidency and the head of the party.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma, seemingly untouchable just a couple of months ago, was gone in just 58 days.<\/p>\n
For years, Mr. Zuma \u2014 as the leader of both the party and the nation \u2014 had relied on his party\u2019s support to fend off opposition-led no-confidence votes in Parliament and damning rulings by the nation\u2019s highest courts.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma\u2019s reversal in fortunes began in December, when his choice as party successor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a veteran politician and his former wife, lost to Mr. Ramaphosa by a small margin.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ramaphosa\u2019s election was considered a victory for reformers inside the A.N.C. After his election, South Africa\u2019s currency, the rand, and overall business confidence have risen.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Mr. Ramaphosa\u2019s supporters lobbied for Mr. Zuma\u2019s early exit. They argued that Mr. Ramaphosa needed time before the 2019 elections to rebuild the party and woo back voters, especially in the urban black middle class.<\/p>\n
Pushing back, Mr. Zuma\u2019s followers said he should be allowed to complete his term. But the momentum was not in their favor, and the legal challenges Mr. Zuma faced, potentially embarrassing to both him and the party, lay ahead.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuma\u2019s resignation also saved the A.N.C. from a confrontation in Parliament. It is almost certain that the party would have succeeded in passing the no-confidence vote, given its dominance in the legislative body.<\/p>\n
But the spectacle of a party finally turning against a leader it had protected steadfastly for nearly nine years would have most likely resulted in awkward verbal footwork by A.N.C. lawmakers and stinging attacks by a reinvigorated opposition.<\/p>\n
The same A.N.C. lawmakers, who had until a couple of months ago always offered a full-throated defense of Mr. Zuma\u2019s conduct in a series of scandals would have been forced to proffer reasons to remove him in Parliament \u2014 exposing the party to charges of hypocrisy and expediency, and casting doubt on Mr. Ramaphosa\u2019s pledge to reform it.<\/p>\n
The A.N.C.\u2019s difficult position was on clear display on Tuesday. At a news conference at its headquarters in Johannesburg, Ace Magashule \u2014 who is third in the party\u2019s hierarchy and has traditionally acted as its spokesman \u2014 struggled to explain why the party was asking for Mr. Zuma\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n
Mr. Magashule said the corruption accusations against the president had played no role, saying, \u201cWe did not take these decisions because Comrade Jacob Zuma has done anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Magashule\u2019s remarks suggested the party might be reluctant to deal head-on with the culture of corruption that was endemic under Mr. Zuma \u2014 and also that it was concerned about its success in future elections.<\/p>\n
In the 2016 local elections, the A.N.C. lost control over the nation\u2019s biggest cities after it was deserted by traditional supporters disillusioned by Mr. Zuma\u2019s conduct; some party officials have since warned that it might face a similar fate in national elections in 2019.<\/p>\n
But party leaders did not explain, as Mr. Zuma himself pointed out in the television interview, why they had loyally backed him until two months ago and were now demanding his resignation. What had changed, beyond the fact that there was now a new A.N.C. leader who wanted him out?<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s saying what I\u2019ve done,\u201d Mr. Zuma said in his television interview.<\/p>\n