JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) will name party deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe as the country’s interim president until the poll, expected around April, after the ousting of President Thabo Mbeki, ANC members of parliament told the media on Monday.

ANC president Jacob Zuma said that the party would ensure a smooth transition and economic policy continuity while he also strongly hinted his deputy could stand in as president pending new elections in a speech aimed at calming the nerves of foreign investors rattled by the forced departure of pro-business Mbeki.

"We have in cabinet many experienced ministers, including the deputy president of the ANC, Kgalema Motlanthe,” said Zuma.

“I'm convinced that if given that responsibility, he would be equal to the task.”

Born in 1949 and elected ANC deputy president at the party’s 52nd national conference in December 2007, Motlanthe is a left-leaning intellectual, widely respected by both the radical leftists and business tycoons within the ANC. He is seen as a figure who could help heal the deepest divisions in the party's history.

However, Motlanthe’s strong links with South Africa’s powerful labour movement – he is a former secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – could mean he favours a more robust policy towards Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

NUM’s mother body, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), has led calls for tougher action against Mugabe who it says has no legitimate claim to power after his re-election in a June presidential run-off election boycotted by the opposition because of political violence.

Zuma, who will no doubt work closely with Motlanthe as they manage the transition from the Mbeki era, has openly criticised Mugabe in the past.

Zimbabwean analysts said on Monday that the coming in of Montlathe as interim president and Zuma’s expected ascendancy to the throne next year represents a shift in South Africa to a leadership that – if not openly hostile to Mugabe – will at the very least not be accommodating to the veteran leader.

John Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe senior political science lecturer, said: “Robert Mugabe will be wise to reach a settlement with the MDC because the longer he takes the more he is likely to come under pressure from the new South African leadership.”

South African observers described Motlanthe as level-headed and the best qualified to help the country navigate through its worst political crisis since the end of apartheid in 1994.

"He's a very solid person and if you've read his statements he always avoids wild rhetoric. He seems to also avoid making enemies and in the present political climate that's a good thing," said Keith Gottschalk, a political analyst at the University of the Western Cape.

"Certainly, most would regard him as presidential material."

Motlanthe is former student activist and a former soldier in the ANC's military wing UmKhonto we Sizwe who was jailed on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and Zuma under the racist apartheid regime.

Under pressure from the new ANC leadership dominated by supporters of Zuma, Mbeki this year appointed Motlanthe as a Member of Parliament and as Minister without Portfolio. This was seen as a step towards a smooth transition to a future Zuma government.

Militant members of the ANC led the charge to force out Mbeki after a judge threw out corruption charges against his rival Zuma and suggested there was high-level political meddling in the case.

The opposition Democratic Alliance said parliament would elect Mbeki's successor on Thursday and Motlanthe's appointment is almost certain to be officially approved by the ANC-dominated assembly.

But Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was "deeply disturbed" by the ANC's ouster of Mbeki.

"It is good old-fashioned tit-for-tat. Our country deserves better. The way of retribution leads to a banana republic," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told the media. – ZimOnline