Mbeki’s resignation!

– Thinakkural Editorial

(September 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mbeki resigned on September 21 after being forced to stand down following a bitter feud within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, pitting him against leadership rival Jacob Zuma.

Certainly, it is unprecedented in South African history that a Head of State is dismissed in this way. Nor is the ANC the kind of organization that goes in for this humiliation of its leaders.

In December 1997, Mr Mbeki succeeded Mr Mandela as ANC leader. He became president two years later - winning a second term in 2004.

The ANC is in a formal alliance with two groups on the left, the Communists and the trade union movement, Cosatu. Both were fiercely critical of the strategy and argued that they had been excluded from its development and implementation.

His stand on Zimbabwe was also attacked, when he resolutely refused to openly pressurize President Robert Mugabe, insisting that quiet diplomacy would yield results. But it was his role at home that caused Thabo Mbeki’s downfall.

The good work, he (Mbeki) has done, is nullified by the perception created that the country is just another African state, where political instability is the order of the day!

A serious dilemma is averted in South Africa, following his honourable act of resignation voluntarily!

(An English translation of the Editorial in Thinakkural, a Tamil daily based in Colombo.) - Sri Lanka Guardian