S. Africa's Mbeki Agrees to Step Down

Move by President Follows Recall Vote

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 20 -- South African President Thabo Mbeki, a former liberation leader and architect of his nation's post-apartheid democracy, agreed to resign Saturday after the top ranks of his party voted to recall him months before the end of his second and final term.

The party's decision ushered in a new era of South African politics, as one of its most prominent leaders bowed out of a bitter power struggle with his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, a populist who is considered likely to win the presidency next year.

The shake-up came a week after a court dismissed corruption charges against Zuma and suggested that Mbeki had plotted to have his rival prosecuted, a ruling that inflamed divisions within the dominant African National Congress, which Zuma leads.

Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the party, said at a news conference that the decision was made out of a "desire for stability and for a peaceful and prosperous South Africa."

Mbeki's office released a statement saying that he had "obliged and will step down after all the constitutional requirements have been met." Mantashe said that Mbeki, on being told of the party's decision, "did not display shock . . . he welcomed the news."

Mbeki's resignation will leave Africa's regional powerhouse and largest economy in political limbo as it passes to the hands of an interim president, who Mantashe said will be selected by Parliament in the coming days.

"We have not lost the momentum of governance, and that's why we are handling this process in a more sensitive and cautious way," Mantashe said.

It was an abrupt end to the presidency of Mbeki, 66, an aloof and scholarly former deputy president who succeeded his boss, freedom icon Nelson Mandela, in 1999. The son of anti-apartheid activists, Mbeki became one himself as a teenager and went on to devote his life to the ANC, including 28 years in exile. He has said he was "born into the struggle."

Under Mbeki's free-market policies, South Africa's economy maintained a steady growth rate, and a black middle class emerged. Outside his country, Mbeki is credited with advocating African issues on the world stage and with successfully negotiating peace resolutions in Congo, Sudan and, most recently, Zimbabwe.

Yet Mbeki's policies failed to create jobs or end poverty for millions of South Africans, causing many in his party to lose faith in him. He came under attack for prolonged neglect of rampant violent crime and a glaring AIDS epidemic and for stifling dissent.

Internationally, Mbeki earned ignominy for questioning the cause of AIDS and for refusing to join other world leaders in condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's brutal and ruinous rule.

"The way in which he responded to all these issues was that of a man who is out of touch," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst with the Center for Policy Studies in Johannesburg. "Not only out of touch with regard to the rank and file of his own party, but also out of touch with ordinary citizens."