Johannesburg — FROM one enigma to the next. President Thabo Mbeki was never the most media-friendly of leaders, with details about his personal life always relatively limited. His replacement, Kgalema Motlanthe, seems set to continue this frustrating tradition for the media.

Basic biographical details, like the birthplace of the man who will soon be Acting President Motlanthe, cannot be found on the usually reliable Who's Who of SA website, nor on Wikipedia's website.

Do not rely on the Presidency's website either. It has a long biography of Essop Pahad - soon to become the former minister in the Presidency - but only a picture of Motlanthe with his biography page blank.

Wikipedia says only that Motlanthe was born in 1949.

In a previous interview with Business Day, Motlanthe was asked why so little was known about his private life. He responded: "I took a decision a long time ago that when I became involved in politics I would try shield my family from the glare of public life."

Mkhulu (grandfather in Zulu), as he is affectionately called within the party, will take over from Mbeki until next year's general election.

After his election as deputy president of the ruling African National Congress in Polokwane last year, Motlanthe was tipped to replace Mbeki after next year's election should party president Jacob Zuma lose his legal battles.

His appointment came as a shock to many, who had put their money on Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete to replace Mbeki.

While secretary-general of the ANC, Motlanthe avoided choosing sides during the Zuma-Mbeki battle leading to the Polokwane conference.

However, he enjoyed support from Zuma's cheerleaders, including the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). That relationship almost turned sour when Motlanthe spoke out against the "kill for Zuma" comments attributed to ANCYL president Julias Malema, and against an attack on the judiciary.

The rift was closed when senior ANC leaders, including Zuma, intervened.

Like Zuma, Motlanthe is said to be an approachable leader. Others say he is a unifier within the tripartite alliance and an intelligent politician. He is a self-confessed jazz lover who listens to the sounds of Madeleine Peyroux, Phillip Miller and Duke Ellington. Motlanthe lives in a gated golf estate and drives a Jeep Cherokee.

It is said that Motlanthe was influenced by the revolutionary ideologies of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. In 1976 he was detained by the apartheid government for 11 months for his political involvement in ANC activities .

He also has a trade union background as a former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. He served a 10-year sentence on Robben Island, rubbing shoulders with liberation luminaries such as Govan Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Mac Maharaj and Harry Gwala.

Earlier this year, Motlanthe ruled out the possibility of going into government before next year as a way of smoothing relations between Luthuli House and the Union Buildings. Then, just a few months later, he was sworn in as a member of Parliament and later as minister without portfolio, in a move seen as an attempt to ensure a smooth transition to the 2009 election.

Judge Chris Nicholson's judgment further accelerated Motlanthe's move to the highest office in the country when the judge found that the president or his cabinet may have interfered in the functioning of the National Prosecuting Authority in the matter relating to Zuma. The ANC national executive committee then decided to recall Mbeki and replace him with Motlanthe.