[Marxism] Mbeki will resign from ANC

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

ANC asks Thabo Mbeki to step down as South African president
Senior party officials announce intention to ask for president's 
resignation after accusations of corruption

     * Katie Cooksey, Chris McGreal and agencies
     * guardian.co.uk,
     * Saturday September 20 2008 13:28 BST

South Africa's ruling party today said it has asked the country's 
president, Thabo Mbeki, to resign over allegations he misused his 
power. Mbkei had agreed to the request, it added.

The African National Congress's national executive had decided to 
"recall the president before his term of office expires", Gwede 
Mantashe, the party's secretary general, told reporters in 
Johannesburg. The "long and difficult" decision followed more than a 
day of discussions.

Mantashe said Mbeki, in power since 1999, had been told of the 
decision: "He did not display shock. He welcomed the news and agreed 
that he is going to participate in the process and the formalities."

Parliament would meet in the near future to formalise Mbeki's 
resignation, Mantashe said. There was no decision as yet on whether 
to hold early elections, he added.

The decision, the culmination of a bitter power struggle between 
Mbeki and his chief rival, Jacob Zuma, the ANC's leader, threatens to 
destabilise the country, especially if other cabinet ministers act on 
threats to resign in solidarity with the president.

Several key figures, including the deputy president, Phumzile 
Mlambo-Ngcuka, have indicated they will follow Mbeki.

The executive began discussions yesterday over whether to force Mbeki 
from office. A decision had been expected last night, but was delayed 
amid apparent deadlock.

The meeting was called after a high court judge accused Mbeki and 
senior justice officials of being part of an illegal conspiracy to 
charge Zuma with corruption for political ends.

Last week, Mbeki had told the cabinet he would accept whatever 
decision the ANC made, while denying any involvement in the decision 
to prosecute Zuma.

One of the country's most respected former judges, Willem Heath, has 
called for the president, his former justice minister, Penuell 
Maduna, and the former chief prosecutor, Bulelani Ngcuka, to be 
charged with crimes for pursuing a political prosecution.

His call followed a ruling last week by a high court judge, Chris 
Nicholson, against the prosecution of Zuma, which he said was the 
result of "baleful political influence". Heath told a Johannesburg 
newspaper, the Mail and Guardian, that South Africans needed 
protection from the "systematic abuse, detailed in the judgment, of 
organs of state by the president and his purported henchmen.

"If the behaviour ... is not addressed, the application of the 
principle of the separation of powers will remain at the whim of 
those who have seemingly been using it most effectively for personal 
gain." He said the ruling was"probably the most important judgment 
delivered in this country in the past many years".

Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999 and was due to stand down next 
year. During his time in office, Mbeki won praise for guiding the 
country's economy through a period of sustained growth but faced 
controversy over his insistence that that the HIV virus, which has 
infected more than 5 million South Africans, does not cause Aids.

Some senior party officials said they would not support ousting Mbeki 
because of the damage it would do to the party.

Mbhazima Shilowa, the premier of Gauteng province, with Johannesburg 
and Pretoria at its heart, said that a no confidence vote would divide the ANC.

"I think members of the executive will not vote for that motion," he 
said. "I personally don't think the judgment provides any basis to 
say the president must go."

But some ANC factions, including the party's youth league, Communists 
and trade unionists have lobbied hard to oust Mbeki. The left of the 
party has used the crisis over Zuma as a vehicle to bring down the 
president, first as ANC leader, because they were strongly opposed to 
his market-oriented economic policies.

The council of churches said that removing Mbeki could plunge the 
country into a crisis. "The recalling or impeachment of the president 
will lead to the collapse of the current executive and would plunge 
the country into an ... unnecessary crisis. The negative political 
and economic repercussions of such an induced collapse are too 
ghastly to contemplate."


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