CAPE TOWN: South African President Thabo Mbeki denied yesterday accusations his government had interfered with justice, seen as central to calls for him to step down.
“We have never compromised the right of the National Prosecution Authority to prosecute or not to prosecute,” Mbeki said after announcing he had tendered his resignation earlier yesterday.
“We have always protected the integrity of the judiciary.” Mbeki, 66, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as president in June 1999, had been under pressure since a Sept. 12 court ruling threw out a corruption case against his political rival Jacob Zuma.
His comments came after the judge, in his ruling, appeared to suggest that Zuma’s claims that there had been political pressure to pursue the case against him had some foundation.
Under the South African constitution, the president is appointed by parliament, which has been dominated by the ANC since the end of apartheid and the start of majority rule in May 1994. Mbeki’s term had been due to expire in mid-2009.
Meanwhile, supporters of Mbeki may split from the ruling African National Congress and contest elections as a breakaway party in 2009, South Africa’s Sunday Times said.
The move threatens to shatter the foundations of the country’s post-apartheid political landscape, which has been dominated by the African National Congress, and tilt Africa’s largest economy to the left.
Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, Deputy Defense Minister Mluleki George and other Mbeki loyalists are planning to start a new party and organizers will meet this week to discuss the move, the Sunday Times said.
“I’m not in a position to discuss this thing at this stage, but in a few days or a week you will hear the details,” George told the newspaper.
