South African President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday agreed to step down after his African National Congress (ANC) party asked him to leave office, his spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said in a statement, DPA reported The ANC had earlier called for Mbeki to step aside over evidence of political interference in the corruption case of Mbeki's rival, ANC leader Jacob Zuma. "Following the decision of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress to recall President Thabo Mbeki, the President has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met," Ratshitanga said. Mbeki, who is in the final months of his second five-year term as president, was expected to address a press conference Saturday afternoon at Union Buildings. Zuma, also 66, is the ANC's candidate to lead the party into elections slated for next year, but Zuma is not a member of parliament, making it unlikely he will succeed Mbeki in the interim. The NEC made the announcement of Mbeki's recall after several hours of talks behind closed doors on the president's fate, which come just five days after Mbeki was the toast of the world for brokering a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe. Mbeki's neck has been on the ANC's chopping block since September 12, when a High Court judge setting aside corruption charges against Zuma, found evidence of a political hidden hand in the case. The judge inferred Mbeki interfered with the judicial process, noting Zuma was charged in December 2007 days after he defeated Mbeki in an ANC leadership vote. Normally, when the presidency is vacated, the deputy president takes over, but Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has said she will leave with Mbeki. In that case the acting president is either a minister chosen by Mbeki, a minister chosen by cabinet or the speaker of parliament, Baleka Mbete, in that order.
