By Prensa Latina,
Johannesburg : South African President Thabo Mbeki accepted to resign after the proposal presented on Saturday by the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), main political party in the country.
The president’s spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga asserted that Mbeki agreed with the decision by the party’s top authority, but without specifying a date. A presidential communiqué said the head of State would resign “after fulfilling all constitutional requirements.”
The ANC requested on Saturday the president’s resignation before concluding his term of office in the second half of 2009.
According to ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe, the National Executive Committee of the country’s main political organization agreed to make that request to maintain stability in the ranks of its party and iron out the internal differences.
Mbeki has been accused of promoting a judicial plot against ANC former president Jacob Zuma, who was forced to resign in 2005, accused of supposed involvement in corruption, which led to imprisonment of his main financial advisor Shabir Shaik. Mantashe said the decision is not a punishing measure, but asserted that if the president denied the request, the case would be taken to parliament, where the ANC has been the majority since its first elections in 1994.