CAPE TOWN: The African National Congress (ANC) named its deputy chief Kgalema Motlanthe to become South Africa’s next president yesterday, a day after embattled Thabo Mbeki announced his resignation.
The nomination for a new head of state is expected to be made in the ANC-dominated parliament today, with the vote and swearing in of the new president planned for Thursday.
Motlanthe, who like many of South Africa’s current leaders was involved in the struggle to end white minority rule, is to serve as head of state until national elections are held in seven months’ time.
“Motlanthe will be the president, not interim, he will be the president of the republic until the election,” spokesman for the ANC parliamentary caucus KK Khumalo said after a meeting between the ANC and lawmakers.
He has been considered a key ANC strategist who has appealed to supporters of both Mbeki and the outgoing president’s rival Jacob Zuma. Zuma, who is ANC president, is widely seen as the favorite to become head of state after next year’s elections. Motlanthe was elected deputy ANC president at a crunch party conference in December, when Zuma toppled Mbeki from his position as party chief.
Zuma refused later to say who would be the party’s candidate to replace Mbeki, saying it would be parliament’s role to do so. “We have in cabinet many experienced ministers, including the deputy president of the ANC, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe. I am convinced that if given that responsibility he would be equal to the task,” he said. Zuma, a charismatic leader seen as a champion of the poor, said there would be a “smooth transition” in the presidency, adding that economic policy would remain “stable, progressive and unchanged.”
According to the South African constitution it is parliament, which has been dominated by the ANC since apartheid ended in 1994, that elects the president from among its members.
“Thursday, 25 Sept., is being proposed as the date for the election of the president. In that manner there will be no need to have a person acting as president pending the election,” parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete said in a statement.
Mbeki announced in a television address on Sunday that he had submitted his resignation to parliament his party called for him to step down in the interests of ANC unity.
