President of South Africa steps down

Chicago Tribune

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Thabo Mbeki delivered what some observers are calling the best speech of his career Sunday. Ironically, it happened to announce his resignation from South Africa’s presidency. And it jolted the continent’s premier democracy down a new and clouded road in its political history.

“I would like sincerely to thank the nation and the ANC for having given me the opportunity to serve in public office during the last 14 years,” Mbeki said, referring to the country’s ruling African National Congress party, which asked him to step down Saturday. “I remain a member of the ANC and therefore respect its decisions.”

The deputy president to Nelson Mandela and elected to two 5-year terms of his own, Mbeki was the loser in an increasingly fierce power struggle within the ANC that pitted him against his arch-rival, former guerrilla leader and party President Jacob Zuma.

The ANC requested that Mbeki step down “for stability and for a peaceful and prosperous South Africa.” But the real reason for his dismissal, analysts say, was a court’s insinuation a week ago that Mbeki had interfered in a corruption case against Zuma — an accusation Mbeki strongly denied in his 15-minute speech.