Word: mbeki
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...subdued television address on Sunday night, ousted South African President Thabo Mbeki announced that he had submitted his letter of resignation to the speaker of parliament and will officially leave office once parliament chooses an interim successor, as it is expected to do within a month. Mbeki appeared calm and dignified as he defended his legacy of 14 years as the premier policy architect of a post-apartheid South African state, first as deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999, then as head of state. But despite his demeanor, it was a bitter moment...
...address, Mbeki, 66, denied that he had used his political influence to pressure the prosecution of Jacob Zuma, his rival within the African National Congress (ANC), who is expected to run in and win presidential elections next year. It was that allegation that served as the political ammunition party leaders needed to oust Mbeki, though observers suggest they had a much broader list of complaints. "So much antagonism has built up towards him that people were determined not to let him go in any dignified way," author and ANC parliamentarian-turned-critic Andrew Feinstein told TIME. "That is related...
...lonely figure who lacks Zuma's common touch, Mbeki has proved to be an astute policy architect, but ultimately lost out in what many say essentially boils down to a bruising popularity contest between the two leaders. Mbeki fired Zuma, his then deputy, in 2005 amid a corruption scandal over shady arms procurement deals. But the President's political star has waned since last December, when a party leadership conference removed him as ANC leader and replaced him with Zuma...
...Mbeki, who had hoped to make a dignified exit from office and retain some of his legacy as a peace broker on the continent - where he has mediated conflicts in the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo and, most recently, Zimbabwe - has instead faced a string of humiliating defeats, and leaves office much diminished. The ANC, too, is likely to be weakened by its decision, which also seemed to suggest that Zuma is not necessarily in control of the coalition of forces within the party that brought him to power...
...Mbeki's autocratic management style and ruthlessness in dealing with his opponents - he deftly outmaneuvered a more popular rival, Cyril Ramaphosa, in order to assume the presidency after Nelson Mandela left office in 1999 - has angered many. Nevertheless, the ANC's decision raises a deeper question of just how able Zuma is to control the militants among his supporters, who some fear are now in a position to dictate party policy...