While South Africa awaits news on whether President Jacob Zuma soon will resign, a senior leader of the ruling African National Congress says the party must reverse a decline in popularity that has gone on for more than a decade.

ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe spoke Saturday, following days of uncertainty over the progress of private talks on a power transition between Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, the president's expected successor.

Scandals linked to Zuma have played a major role in sapping support for the ruling party, which has led South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994. Backing peaked in 2004 with nearly 70 percent of the national vote but has since declined.

The party lost control of key municipalities in 2016 elections.