South Africa's ruling party calls on Mbeki to quit

President concedes to his own party's desire for his resignation; no decision on whether to hold early elections.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Mbeki 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Mbeki 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
South Africa's ruling party called on President Thabo Mbeki to resign and it said he agreed to the request Saturday. Mbeki has lost a power struggle against his rival, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, and has come under pressure to quit following a judge's ruling last week that he was instrumental in Zuma being charged with corruption. If other key Cabinet ministers decide to quit in solidarity with Mbeki, there could be turmoil in Africa's economic and political powerhouse. All eyes are on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who shares the credit with Mbeki for South Africa's sustained economic growth and investor-friendly policies over the past decade. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said a high-level committee has "decided to recall the president of the republic before his term of office expires." Mantashe said that Mbeki accepted the news. The president "did not display shock ... he welcomed the news and agreed that he is going to participate in the process and the formalities," Mantashe said. Parliament would meet in the near future to formalize Mbeki's resignation, the party official said, adding that there was no decision on whether to hold early elections. It was unclear whether Mbeki attended Saturday's meeting. Several key government executives, including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, have indicated they will follow him. Mantashe said Zuma was meeting with cabinet ministers to persuade them to remain in government. He said the top priority at the moment was to focus on "ensuring the smooth running of the country." "We share the desire for stability and for a peaceful and prosperous South Africa," Mantashe told a news conference. Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999 and was due to stand down next year. If he is forced out of office, it will be a devastating humiliation to a man who devoted his life to the ANC and who is regarded as one of Africa's most respected statesmen. Mbeki, who has promoted what he calls Africa's renaissance, has mediated in conflicts ranging from Sudan to Ivory Coast to Congo. After years of quiet diplomacy, for which he was widely criticized, he persuaded Zimbabwe's strongman, President Robert Mugabe, to share power with the opposition movement last week - although talks on the formation of a cabinet have since deadlocked over disagreement about the control of key ministries. Militant Zuma supporters headed by the ANC and Communist Youth Leagues want to force Mbeki out before his term ends. They are calling for the ANC - to which the 66-year-old Mbeki has belonged since he was 14 years old - to throw him out of the party as well as out of office. Mbeki fired Zuma as his national deputy president in 2005, after Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of trying to elicit a bribe to deflect investigations into a multibillion-dollar international arms deal. The charges were withdrawn against Zuma, but the chief prosecutor announced in December he had enough evidence to bring new ones. This was within days of Zuma ousting Mbeki as ANC president. In his ruling Sept. 12, Judge Christopher Nicholson said it appeared Mbeki and his justice minister had colluded with prosecutors against Zuma as part of the "titanic power struggle" within the ANC. Mbeki indignantly denied the accusations Friday. "It impoverishes our society that some resort to the tactic of advancing allegations with no fact to support these," the presidency said in a statement. "The question will have to be answered now - what kind of society are we building, informed by what value system and with what long-term effect to the political and overall moral health of the nation?" South Africa emerged victorious from years of institutionalized racism in 1994 and entered an era of reconciliation embodied by anti-apartheid icon Mandela. Mbeki took over in 1999 and ushered in sustained economic growth averaging nearly 5 percent a year. Mbeki was heralded by the international business community, but his aloofness has alienated many people at home where millions remain on the margins of society. His foes accuse him of failing to fight the country's crippling crime and HIV/AIDS crises.