Mbeki Urges Amity Before Party Vote

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 5 -- President Thabo Mbeki, struggling to hold off a strong challenge from his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, urged members of his ruling African National Congress on Wednesday to avoid treating one another as "enemies" in the final days before the party elects its next leader.

Speaking in a rare live radio interview, Mbeki did not mention Zuma by name or dwell on their sharp personal and policy differences. Instead, Mbeki repeatedly sounded a conciliatory note, saying that the competition for leadership of the party, which dominates the country's politics, should play out peacefully.

Zuma, whom Mbeki fired as the nation's deputy president over allegations of corruption in 2005, trounced the president in regional nominating conventions last month. Political analysts say Zuma is the favorite to take over the ANC from Mbeki during the national party conference in the northern city of Polokwane that begins Dec. 16. Voting for a new party president is expected to take place the following day.

The interview and call-in show, carried on 15 stations nationwide by the South African Broadcasting Corp., came during a week-long push by Mbeki to shore up his position in the party.

When a caller praised Mbeki but said he should step aside for a new leader, the president responded: "Why don't we leave this decision to the members of the ANC? Let's just respect what the membership says."

The interview, which was supposed to last two hours but ended without explanation after 72 minutes, drew complaints even before it began because it offered Mbeki almost unfiltered access to voters on a medium that reaches deep into rural South Africa. There were no immediate announcements of an equivalent appearance for Zuma.

In a news item posted on its Web site Wednesday, the public broadcaster denied being an "ANC mouthpiece." But the interviewer's questions appeared certain to revive criticism of the network. At one point, Mbeki was asked why his support did not reflect "the excellent work" of his government.

Mbeki laughed and responded: "I don't know. . . . Of course the membership is perfectly entitled to conclude that they prefer such-and-such a person for such-and-such a position."

Mbeki's supporters portray him as a professional, cool-headed leader who has skillfully managed an economy left in shambles after apartheid ended in 1994. But his popularity has eroded since he fired the charismatic Zuma, who has the support of the country's labor unions and Communist Party.

Critics often accuse Mbeki of arrogance and failure to alleviate poverty. His record in handling the AIDS epidemic has also elicited denunciation for many years, here and abroad.

If Zuma wins the ANC presidency, he would be the heir apparent to the presidency of South Africa in the next general election in 2009. The main obstacle would be the possibility of corruption charges, which prosecutors have said could be filed in the next two months.

Mbeki, who has been South Africa's president since 1999, is prohibited from seeking another five-year term for that office but can serve again as the ruling party's president.