A committee of top officials from the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, is due to meet on Monday after its six most-senior leaders spent Sunday afternoon with president Jacob Zuma, who is facing mounting pressure to step down.
"The NWC will meet tomorrow," ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said, referring to the national working committee that is one of the highest decision-making structures. "Everything is under control. There's no crisis."
The ANC’s NWC conducts the day-to-day running of the party. It would need to call a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee to force Mr Zuma to quit.
Opposition leader Julius Malema, a former ANC member, said Mr Zuma had refused to resign at the meeting late on Sunday.
"He refused to resign and he told them to take a decision to remove him if they wish to do so because he did not do anything wrong to the country," Mr Malema wrote on Twitter.
Mr Malema was one of the first to disclose that Cyril Ramaphosa had won the race to succeed Mr Zuma as ANC leader in December.
Mr Zuma, who is battling corruption allegations, has been in a weakened position since he was replaced as leader of the ANC.
Mr Ramaphosa, the deputy president, defeated Mr Zuma’s preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
While Mr Zuma’s second and final term is only due to end next year, his immersion in a succession of scandals has eroded support for the ANC and many with the party’s ranks want him to go before he delivers the annual state-of-the-nation address on February 8.
An “urgent notice” sent to members of the NWC, a 26-member group that oversees the day-to-day operations of the party, scheduled the meeting on Sunday.
Mr Zuma, who has not said whether he will step down voluntarily before his second term as president ends, has been deserted by several prominent allies in the ANC since Mr Ramaphosa took over leadership of what is the only party to govern South Africa since the end of apartheid.
He is due to deliver a speech at the opening of parliament in Cape Town on Thursday.
It is unclear if he would still be in office to face a fresh no-confidence motion on February 22.
Mr Zuma has survived several no-confidence votes during his rule thanks to loyal voting by ANC lawmakers, who form a strong parliamentary majority. Although he retains the support of a faction within the ANC, he no longer holds a top post.
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
