Cape Town — President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is being forced out of office early after a bitter struggle with his rival and successor, Jacob Zuma, over the fallout from a U.S.$5 billion arms deal.
Shortly after Mbeki's party, the African National Congress (ANC), announced on Saturday that it had decided to "recall" him, South Africa's presidency released a statement saying "the president has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met."
Mbeki's second and final five-year term was scheduled to expire only next April.
Neither the party nor Mbeki has given any clear roadmap indicating when Mbeki will resign, who will replace him or how long the process will take. Party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told a televised news conference that South Africa's constitution was "silent" on what happened when a president stepped down.
South African presidents are elected by parliament, normally at the time a new government is constituted after an election. Mantashe said parliament would now have to "look at the formula" and "develop" a system for handling the situation.
He also said the party had opted not to use the sections of the constitution under which parliament could either pass a formal vote of no confidence in Mbeki or remove him from office. It wanted instead to "try to resolve the problem politically."
The roots of the crisis over Mbeki's leadership, and his party's loss of confidence in him, lie in allegations of bribery and corruption around the arms deal. The controversy has, in the words of a high court judge last week, become a "cancer that is devouring the body politic and the reputation for integrity built up so assiduously after the fall of apartheid."
The judge was delivering judgement in a case in which prosecutors accused Zuma of corruption arising from the arms deal. Zuma's supporters accuse Mbeki of carrying out a vendetta against Zuma.
Mantashe made it clear at the news conference that the decision to recall Mbeki had been prompted by fear that he, his cabinet and prosecutors would try to reverse a finding by the judge which suggested that cabinet ministers - and by inference Mbeki - had improperly influenced prosecutors in Zuma's case.
Mantashe said prosecutors and the cabinet had been "hitting at the core issues" when they announced this week they wanted to contest the finding. The party wanted to ensure that "contestations" within the party were minimised. "We are trying to bring back stability and certainty," he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this report said the arms deal was worth $30 billion. The figure should have read R30 billion (at the 1999 value of the South African Rand) or $5 million.
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Thabo Mbeki est un grand homme, un valeureux africain, un homme d'Etat de grande envergure. Il respecte les lois. Il respecte ses concitoyens. Par sa future démission, il donne un bon exemple, difficilement imitable, aux nombreux politiciens africains qui n'ont aucune notion de l'Etat et du respect des lois. Ainsi, ils sont politiciens et ne seront jamais des hommes d'Etat comme Mbeki. Je me réfère particulièrement au Congo, honte de toute l'Afrique et de l'humanité entière, république bananière par excellence, pompeusement appelée république démocratique, que des politiciens sans éthique et sans culture pillent quotidiennement en asphyxiant leurs concitoyens condamnés à mourir de faim sur une terre fertile.
This decision of the ANC shows the maturity of the democracy in SA's politic. It's an example for many Africans countries to follow. It SHOULD TELL THEM THAT one's can't stay in power when the people don't want him even if he/she constitutionnaly can do so. I hope the lesson spread across Africa and learned.
Yes indeed ANC is leading by example. In contrast ZanuPF does not hold its leaders accountable and the sorry state of Zimbabwe is the unfortunate result. How can ZanuPF still keep a leader who admits to having had the worst Cabinet but kept it all the same? And who admits to the humiliation of having to share power with the opposition?
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Mbeki's willingness to step down shows his character, even after his accomplishments not only in South Africa, but in Zimbabwe too. There are few leaders who still maintain their dignity and Mbeki was one of them... I don't think this will be the last we will see of him.
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