South Africa's President Mbeki To Step Down After Meeting 'Constitutional Requirements'
September 20, 2008 - By: Paul Salopek

After South Africa's ruling African National Congress party demanded Mbeki's resignation as the nation's president on Saturday—a stinging and unprecedented rebuke in the history of this young democracy—the urbane and brainy leader who had stepped with such promise into the shoes of the revered liberation hero Nelson Mandela almost a decade ago remained holed up quietly in his offices.

Mbeki made no public appearances to calm his rattled nation. Instead, his staff issued a terse, boilerplate statement promising that Mbeki would step down once "all constitutional requirements have been met."

And so implodes the career of a sometimes chilly, often cryptic and intensely reserved man whose complex political legacy across Africa will doubtless be debated for years.

It includes the championing of an uplifting African Renaissance philosophy—while disastrously questioning the scientific basis of the continent's most brutal scourge, AIDS. It is a record of good governance that has positioned South Africa to reap the benefits of a globalized economy—while simultaneously leaving millions of the nation's poorest citizens mired in festering slums.

"All considered, I think he probably will be remembered well for giving Africa a strong and unifying voice," said Shadrack Gutto, the director of the Center for African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa. "He always had a vision of a democratically and economically integrated Africa. He wanted Africa to be a major force in the world."

But Mbeki's detractors say that it was precisely that soaring, pan-African fervor that led to his demise.

"He was never much good at connecting with his own people," said Raenette Taljaard, the director of the Helen Suzman Foundation, a pro-democracy think tank in Johannesburg. "He also centralized too much power for himself. That marginalized a lot of our institutions. It made a lot of enemies."

Indeed, though the ANC insisted that the call for Mbeki's resignation was not a punitive measure, most analysts link it directly to a bruising power struggle within the once monolithic party, which is now led by Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's arch-enemy .

Zuma—as colorful a leader as Mbeki is bland and technocratic—was fired as deputy president in 2005, following his alleged involvement in a tainted government arms-buying deal.

Mbeki announced he was quitting days after a South African court hinted that he may have meddled in a fraud investigation against Zuma. Mbeki denies any wrongdoing.

The scion of a political family that spearheaded South Africa's long battle against white rule, Mbeki, 66, was groomed from birth to lead.

He spent almost half of his life in exile, including many years in Britain, where he earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Sussex.

On a continent where politicians are expected to dance and sing at rallies, Mbeki stood out for his stiffness. He once famously grimaced in distaste at being handed a baby on the campaign trail. He is commonly derided in South Africa's townships as a "black Englishman."

Perhaps his greatest blunder as president may be rooted in his professorial fascination with intellectual debates.

Mbeki astonished the medical world in 2000 by wading into AIDS policy on the side of "denialist" scientists, who questioned the viral nature of the disease. His government's initial, overly cautious response to the devastating disease—which infects more than 10 percent of South Africans—was fiercely condemned by AIDS experts.

Supporters point to Mbeki's grasp of complex economic policy, however, as one of his greatest achievements.

Under Mbeki, strong business-friendly laws have boosted foreign investment. And a recent study by the University of Cape Town shows that South Africa's black middle class has grown rapidly under Mbeki's stewardship, and now includes 2.8 million people. Still, that progress has not been able to ease the poverty of the vast majority of South Africans. Unemployment stands unofficially at 40 percent.

What Mbeki intends to do after stepping down almost a year before his term was to end is unclear.

Several analysts say he may establish an African peace-making foundation, building on his history of mediating disputes on the continent, most recently in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, South Africa's democracy heads into uncharted waters. Parliament will choose an interim president in the days ahead. Zuma will not be eligible, experts say, because South Africa's constitution limits that post to lawmakers or members of the presidential cabinet. Zuma, a rough-and-tumble populist often dogged by allegations of political impropriety, is slated to run for president in national elections scheduled for March.

"We're seeing the winding down of the first transition phase of democracy after Mandela," said analyst Taljaard. "The next phase brings uncertainty."

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By: Paul Salopek | Chicago Tribune Correspondent