Mbeki's resignation stem's from roots much more political than from rules of legallity; it was a reflection of his being vanquished in an intra-party struggle. A few details might suffice.
The immediate cause of the resignation was a resolution by the ANC National Executive Council demanding it in the wake of a court's ruling that there was a manipulation through strings pulled by Thabo Mbeki, in the corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, who emerged as the ANC top-dog, despite Mbeki's third term intent. From the point of view of party internal democracy, it could be argued really that here was rule of law! But that is neither here nor there.
The deeper roots or what could be termed the "remote causes" of the resignation drama stretch into deeper political and ideological terrains which the anti-Zuma manipulation was a tip of the iceberg as well as the last straw of. After the defeat of apartheid in '94, a populist Rapid Development Programme was instituted under Mandela. By June '96 however, this was replaced with the neo-liberal Growth, Employment and Redistribution programme (GEAR), which like the NEPAD it inspired and the NEEDS that then reflected it only put the lives of the working people in reverse gear (quite akin to "overtake don overtake overtake", long live Abami 4ever!). The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South Africa Communist Party (SACP), both of which with ANC comprise the "tripartite alliance" condemned and have never stopped condemning this shift to the right. Their support for Zuma whom like many a man (or woman) at some time or the other, confessed to letting his kinikan override his sense of common sense, was borne out of his antecedence in the struggle against apartheid. His favourite song as an Umkhonto we Sizwe leading combatant was something about give me my guitar (considering that guitar's melody being ratatata! u can better imagine its configuration) .
Mbeki however, was not just anti-Zuma, or anti-Left and did not start his monkey-tricks of manipulation to hold on to power as much as he could (very unlike his revered predecessor, the Madiba), with the Zuma case. In April 2001, he had played a similar "bad card" when he accussed Cyril Ramaphosa (former mineworkers' s union chieftain, former ANC Secretary-General, and now a mega-multimillionaire), Tokyo Sexwale (nice name u could say) and Mathew Phosa of trying to overthrow him. Leading newspapers in RSA likened that charge to Stalin's charges against Zinoviev, Kamanev and Bukharin. Mandela had to speak out against the power-baiting. ..it was all so obvious. These men had made 'bastard money' and with their resources and following in the party, Mbeki had seen them as threats in the ensuing struggle for him to maintain power...it however would be Zuma that would be his nemesis.
What is all this turenche about anyway, you might ask? Simple, Mbeki is not that role or rule of law respecting president for any body, politician or whatever to learn anything from! He is a self-styled suave but not less jaguda African politician, who serves primarily the western neoliberal forces that are getting a bashing, and his power hungry self! There was this cartoon on NEPAD from Namibia, Mbeki was the father, NEPAD the child and Obasanjo the nursing mother. It is quite apt here too...their second child (a pair) was third term but luckily for 9ja & southey, they came out a pair of stillbirth twins
The question is; what do we expect from Zuma? Will he throw out GEAR andrestore the spirit of the RDPI have time and again told our comrade in COSATU/SACP that they will be quite dissapointed. ..time you might say, will tell. Well, with the events of the past week, the balance of forces globally as tilted against neoliberalism. But still...time, I say, will tell
