Cape Town — President Thabo Mbeki formally announced his early resignation in an address televised live in South Africa on Sunday night.
He said he had handed his letter of resignation to the Speaker of the South African Parliament, Baleka Mbete. It would become effective on a date to be determined by the National Assembly.
Shortly before Mbeki's address, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress said on a television panel discussion that the party hoped to announce a candidate for acting president on Monday. ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa also said the party had lost confidence in Mbeki.
In South Africa a new president is elected by Parliament and it is expected that Mbeki's resignation will come into effect once the vote takes place. The ANC's majority guarantees the election of its candidate.
The acting president is likely to serve until a general election due next year, after which the ANC plans to install Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's rival and successor as party leader, as president.
Mbeki, making the television broadcast a day after the ruling African National Congress (ANC) asked him to step down, said that as a loyal party member for 52 years, he respected its decision.
His address was largely devoted to outlining the accomplishments of his administration, including the achievements of his pan-African diplomacy and what he said was "the longest period of sustained economic growth" in the country's history.
However, he acknowledged of the country's growth that "the fruits of these positive results are still to be fully and equitably shared among our people," so that "abject poverty" still existed alongside "extraordinary opulence."
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He made only one reference to the issue which the ANC has said triggered the decision to fire him – an announcement last week that national prosecutors and Mbeki's cabinet wanted to contest a court ruling suggesting that he and his ministers had interfered in a decision to prosecute Zuma.
"We have never done this and therefore never compromised the right of the National Prosecuting Authority to decide whom it wished to prosecute and not to prosecute," Mbeki said.
He steps down seven months before the end of his second and final five-year term. During Nelson Mandela's one-term presidency, Mbeki served as deputy president and has been credited with being the principal implementer of the policies of Mandela's administration.
