Deputy head of the ruling African National Congress Kgalema Motlanthe is to become South Africa's caretaker leader to replace President Thabo Mbeki, ANC members of parliament said.
Motlanthe, who already sits in the cabinet, was named to take over from Mbeki until elections due around April next year during a meeting of the ANC's parliamentary caucus, ANC MPs said on condition of anonymity.
Motlanthe is a left-leaning intellectual who has never sought the limelight.
When asked if it was true that Motlanthe was the candidate named to replace Mbeki, an ANC MP said "Yes, it is".
ANC spokesperson Khotso Khumalo said parliament will vote on the president in the next few days.
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Khumalo declined to comment on whether Motlanthe had been named as president to take over from Mbeki.
"The political leadership is addressing the matter and getting hold of the chief justice and from then on, it will be nomination and voting, between today and Thursday," Khumalo said.
Mbeki, who presided over South Africa's longest period of economic growth, said in a televised address on Sunday he had tendered his resignation after the ANC asked him to quit before the end of his term next year.
The ANC made its request eight days after a judge threw out corruption charges against party leader Jacob Zuma, suggesting there was high-level political meddling in the case.
News of Mbeki's departure helped push South Africa's rand weaker in overnight trading although traders said the political moves would not affect the currency much in the short term.
Analysts say the currency, which weakened by as much as 1,7 percent, will remain vulnerable in the transition period and that any volatile changeover will have a negative impact.
Mbeki, who took over from Nelson Mandela as president in 1999, said on Sunday he remained a loyal ANC member and respected the party's decision but repeated that he did not influence the prosecution in the case of Zuma, his rival.
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This article was originally published on page 0 of Cape Argus on September 22, 2008
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