S. Africa's Mbeki Agrees to Step Down
Move by President Follows Recall Vote

By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 21, 2008

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."

The tensions combined with rancor over the court case against Zuma, who for seven years has been investigated on corruption allegations in relation to a multimillion-dollar arms deal.

In 2005, Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of soliciting bribes on Zuma's behalf. Mbeki then fired Zuma as deputy president, a move some analysts say energized Mbeki's opponents, who saw him as high-handed and ruthless. Zuma was charged the same year, but the case was dropped on a technicality.

Zuma, 66, staged a political comeback in December, wresting control of the ANC presidency from Mbeki. Days later, prosecutors refiled charges against Zuma, outraging his backers. The tipping point came this month, analysts said, when a high court judge dismissed the charges and suggested that Mbeki had been part of a political scheme against Zuma. Days later, prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling, a move the ANC decried as an extension of the "relentless pursuit of Jacob Zuma."

Those events overshadowed Mbeki's successful negotiation of a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.

On Saturday, Mantashe said the ouster was "not a punishment" for the man he called "comrade Mbeki." But some observers said it smacked of score-settling.

"The ANC has made its own internal problems a crisis for the country," Helen Zille, leader of an opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said in an interview on the television network SABC. "Let's cut through all the clutter and say that this is exactly the political solution that Jacob Zuma has always wanted. It's about revenge."

The political drama has seemed to only boost the popularity of Zuma, whose impoverished, rural roots have earned him the adoration of South Africa's poor and working classes. Zuma, a former freedom fighter who was also exiled, offers a stark contrast to Mbeki: Unfailingly charismatic and approachable, he had little formal education and often speaks in Zulu, a language spoken by a quarter of South Africans.

Zuma has strong support from South Africa's unions and the Communist Party, which decry the economic policies that they say have benefited few. That has caused jitters among South Africa's business community and foreign investors.

But despite Zuma's alliances, political analysts say it is unclear what route his presidency would take. A senior Zuma ally recently told the Financial Times that his camp, once in power, would seek "a complete review of the conservative strategies we've pursued -- all of them." Zuma, however, has tried to reassure investors that he is committed to growth and the private sector.

Zuma's union and Communist Party supporters "think he's more open to engagement" than Mbeki, said Adam Habib, a political science professor at the University of Johannesburg. "Do I think suddenly policy is going to move sharply to the left? No, policy itself is a product of a much more complex range of things."

Whether Zuma will take over Mbeki's role as a regional power broker and an international advocate for Africa is another question. Political analysts said the situation is particularly precarious in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe and opposition leaders signed a peace deal last week but are deadlocked over the distribution of cabinet positions.

Zuma has criticized Mugabe for refusing to step down after disputed elections in the spring.

Mantashe said Saturday that Mbeki would continue as mediator in those negotiations.

"That doesn't have the same cachet," said Princeton N. Lyman, a former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "That's a problem, because that mediation is reaching a crisis point."