ANC Deputy Leader Expected to Be Interim President of South Africa

The South African government is poised to shift to the left after the ruling African National Congress indicated that its deputy leader, Kgalema Motlanthe, a prominent trade unionist, will become interim president following Thabo Mbeki's forced resignation.

The ANC will not publicly confirm Motlanthe's selection until parliament is formally informed and votes in the new president, for the remaining nine months of Mbeki's term, on Thursday.

But yesterday the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma, hinted that Motlanthe was the choice and party officials did not deny it.

"I am convinced, if given that responsibility, he would be equal to the task," Zuma told reporters.

However, it appeared that Mbeki has not given up the political wrangle with Zuma after a Johannesburg radio station reported that the outgoing president has attached his name to a legal petition seeking to overturn the high court ruling earlier this month that threw out a long-standing corruption case against Zuma and accused Mbeki of misusing the judicial system to keep his rival from power. It was that ruling that prompted the ANC leadership to vote to remove Mbeki.

Motlanthe, who was jailed for 10 years by the apartheid regime, played a leading role in ousting Mbeki and installing Zuma as ANC leader last year.

He is backed by the trade union movement and the Communist party, which were critical of Mbeki's economic policies and want to see greater wealth distribution, an end to privatization of state assets and greater poverty relief.

Although technically an interim president, Motlanthe is such an integral part of ANC policy-making he can be expected to begin to lay out the path of the Zuma presidency that is likely to follow after the general election in about nine months.

The ANC forced Mbeki to accept Motlanthe into the cabinet as a minister without portfolio in July, ostensibly to smooth the way for the change in administration next year. But it was clear that the party's deputy leader was there to keep an eye on Mbeki and to ensure he carried through changes in ANC policies introduced after Zuma took charge of the party.

Zuma said the decision to "recall" Mbeki was "one of the most difficult" in the history of the ANC.

"Comrade Mbeki has devoted decades of his life to the ANC and our country. The decision to recall him was not taken lightly, but it has to be taken in the interest of making the country move forward," he said.

Motlanthe, 59, was a follower of the Black Consciousness Movement and was first jailed in 1976 during the student protests against the teaching of Afrikaans in black schools which set off years of unrest that played a primary role in bringing down apartheid. He was arrested again a year later and sentenced to 10 years on Robben Island.

After his release he was elected secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers and later held a similar post in the ANC.

The ANC used a constitutional clause to bypass a requirement for the deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, to replace Mbeki. She was loyal to the outgoing president and resigned yesterday.