WORLD> Africa
ANC forces South African President Mbeki to resign
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-21 09:36

A major concern was threats by key Cabinet ministers to quit over Mbeki's removal. Attention was especially focused on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who has shared the credit with Mbeki for South Africa's sustained economic growth and investor-friendly policies over the past decade.

President Thabo Mbeki (C) and former Presidents FW de Klerk (L) and Nelson Mandela (R) pose for photographers after Mbeki's election as President, May 10, 2004. South Africa's ruling party decided to recall President Thabo Mbeki before the end of his term next year and that he had pledged to accept the move and step aside voluntarily.  [Agencies] 

Mantashe said Zuma was meeting with Cabinet ministers hoping to persuade them to stay on, saying the top priority was "ensuring the smooth running of the country."

Speaking to reporters, Mantashe said that after meeting all of Friday and into the early hours Saturday, a high-level ANC committee "decided to recall the president" before his term in office expires in April.

Hours later, the president's office issued a terse statement:

"Following the decision of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress to recall President Thabo Mbeki, the President has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met."

Mbeki's spokesman said there would be no further comment Saturday.

South Africans vote for parties, not individuals. That puts a premium on party loyalty and discipline among legislators and allows political leaders to quickly make radical changes.

Although Mbeki's removal came quicker than many people expected, South Africans had been anticipating a shift from Mbeki to Zuma at least since last December, when Zuma defeated the president in a party election for the ANC's leadership. Helen Zille, leader of South Africa's main opposition party, told state television that the ANC has made its internal problems a crisis for the country. "It's about revenge, it's about settling political scores," she said.

Mantashe insisted the move to remove Mbeki was meant to restore unity and stability to party and country, not to punish him.

But many saw it as Mbeki's defeat, and it opened the way for opponents to question the ANC over how a leader who tried to oust an allegedly corrupt aide was removed while the accused stands on the brink of becoming president.