Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Johannesburg (Agenzia Fides) – South African Parliament will elect a President ad interim today, September 25, who will lead the country to the upcoming presidential elections in 2009, substituting Thabo Mbeki who resigned following the decision of the Executive Committee (see Fides 22/9/2008) of his party, the ANC (African National Congress, in power since 1994). Kgalema Motlanthe, Vice-President of the ANC, is expected to be elected, as two days ago he was chosen by the Parliamentary contingent of the party as their own candidate. The ANC holds more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament.
The party, however, seems to be divided. The resignations of 10 of the Ministers (almost half of all the Ministers) lead by Mbeki, has revealed the depth of the rift created within the ANC. International analysts and experts in economic issues are worried about the resignation of the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, who was not expected to resign. Manuel is appreciated by the business community for the reform he has introduced that have allowed the South African economy to experience sustained growth in recent years.
Manuel is linked to the technocratic area of the ANC, as is Mbeki. The election of Jacob Zuma to the presidency of the party marks the triumph of the popular spirit (see Fides 19/12/2007). Zuma is considered the candidate with the most possibilities for winning presidential elections. The change to “popular” has come, in part, from the fact that although the national economy has grown, there has not been a net improvement in the living conditions of the poor in South Africa, which are the electoral font of the ANC. The party’s internal divisions seem to be a symptom of a division on a larger scale in civil society, between those who have reaped fruits from Mbeki’s (and that of his Minister of Finance) economic liberalization and those (the majority of South Africans) who continue to be excluded from this process.
The President ad interim will have to work to regain trust in the institutions on the part of the population, as the Bishops have indicated (see Fides 24/9/2008) and bring unity back to the party. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 25/9/2008)
