JOHANNESBURG — “He’ll go now-now.”

That’s how a South African weekly over the weekend summarized the uncertainty surrounding President Jacob Zuma’s fate as the nation’s leader. Yes, he’ll almost certainly step down, but not right now. Instead, it’ll be sometime in the near future, or, to use a quintessential South African expression, “now-now.”

Negotiations between Mr. Zuma and his deputy and probable successor as president, Cyril Ramaphosa, over South Africa’s presidency entered their second week on Monday after days of premature reports that Mr. Zuma’s exit was imminent. The lack of clarity surrounding his future — and the nature of the talks themselves — deepened the anxiety and frustration among many South Africans.

But a marathon meeting on Monday of leaders of the African National Congress raised the possibility that the drawn-out negotiations were finally coming to an end. The leaders met late into the night on Monday. Around midnight, the state broadcaster said that party leaders had directed Mr. Ramaphosa to personally deliver to Mr. Zuma a demand that he resign within 48 hours.

But that report could not be independently confirmed, and hours earlier, Mr. Zuma’s spokesman had called reports that Mr. Zuma’s resignation was imminent “fake news.”