ANC to tell Mbeki to resign

ANC to tell Mbeki to resign

ALL CLEAR: Jacob Zuma waves to supporters as he leaves the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday, September 12 after a judge ruled he had been wrongly charged with corruption

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By Moipone Malefane

MEMBERS of the National Executive Committee of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress have said Thabo Mbeki is expected to be told to resign - or face a motion of no confidence in Parliament, the Times newspaper reported on Friday.

The decision was taken at a closed meeting earlier Friday and would be announced at a news conference tentatively scheduled for 5.30pm.

The NEC endorsed an earlier decision by the party’s National Working Committee to get rid of Mbeki.

They said Mbeki would be asked to resign immediately. If he refused, he would be expelled by a Parliamentary vote.

Party insiders said Mbeki met ANC president Jacob Zuma early today, but did not disclose the content of their discussion.

Mbeki is believed to have told close aides that he will resign if asked by the party’s top decision-making body and that he will not force a parliamentary showdown.

Mbeki, who has been president since he succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999, has been under pressure to quit since he lost a bid for a third term as party leader in December.

Zuma won a landslide endorsement by party delegates at a conference in Polokwane and is almost certain to be elected president after the next general election, which must be held by July next year.

Mbeki has broadly ignored his defeat, continuing to implement the policies of his own executive and only reluctantly agreeing to take deputy party president Kgalema Motlanthe into his cabinet as a minister without portfolio. Though he has had a right to attend party executive meetings, he has chosen not to.

Zuma has fought to let Mbeki see out his term, saying at the weekend there was no point in "beating a dead snake", but he was overruled by the NEC.

Calls for Mbeki’s immediate ouster have been led by the party’s radical youth wing with Youth League president Julius Malema saying this week that "a dead snake should be buried" and that Mbeki should quit.

The final straw for the party was last week’s ruling by Judge Chris Nicholson withdrawing corruption charges against Zuma and suggesting that Mbeki and his executive had improperly interfered with the criminal justice system to ensure that Zuma was charged.

Mbeki was scheduled to fly to New York on Saturday to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting and to bid farewell ahead of his scheduled retirement between April and July next year. He is now expected to cancel that trip.

Many if not all of Mbeki’s ministers are expected to quit in sympathy with him, but all eyes will be on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, whose continued presence would help to stabilise the economy during the transition from Mbeki’s rule to a government headed by Zuma.

If Mbeki does not resign, Parliament is likely to convene to pass a motion of no confidence. If the legislature does so, Mbeki and his entire cabinet would be required to resign.

Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete would then act as president until the Chief Justice can convene an electoral college of MPs to elect a new president, who would serve out the rest of Mbeki’s term. The constitution allows up to 30 days to elect a new president.

Party insiders said this week they did not expect Zuma to press for immediate installation as the country’s president. Some provincial divisions were reported, however, to be in favour of having Zuma reinstated as deputy president of the country.

Mbeki fired Zuma from that position in June 2005 after his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was jailed for selling Zuma’s influence and taking money in his name. - Times
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