President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is considering offering to step down in 2018, at least 12 months before his term ends, senior party sources said.

According to the two sources, the offer is under a deal with opponents in his ruling party that would see Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan leave office now.

Reuters reports that Mr Zuma is due to be replaced as party leader at an African National Congress (ANC) party conference in December after serving his allocated two terms, but was expected to remain the country’s president until elections in 2019.

The offer appears intended as a way out of an impasse over the country’s leadership within the divided ANC, but may not be enough to satisfy opponents of  Zuma, who want the president out early anyway and urgently want Gordhan to stay.

There is precedent for an ANC leader to leave the presidency early. Thabo Mbeki was removed by the ANC as South African president in 2008 after his time as party leader ended at the close of the previous year.

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A split in the ANC deepened on Tuesday March 28 after Mr Zuma ordered Gordhan to return from an investor roadshow in Britain, raising expectations of a cabinet reshuffle that markets fear will include Mr Gordhan’s removal.

Mr.Gordhan is viewed favourably by investors and the Rand fell sharply when he was ordered home.

One of the sources said: “Zuma’s early departure after December conference is on the table. It’s being discussed. “He could be forcibly removed so it makes sense for him to go on his own terms.”

Zuma’s opponents have become increasingly vocal, and agreeing to stand aside early could help prevent a permanent split in the former liberation movement of Nelson Mandela, which in 2016 suffered its worst result in local elections since it swept to power with the end of apartheid in 1994.

Some senior members of the ANC are pushing for Mr Zuma’s departure now, applying pressure on him to find a compromise. “He must just go. We don’t need his ‘offers’. He must just go before destroying our country,” one senior ANC member, who had not heard of Mr Zuma discussing stepping down, told Reuters.