A telling time for South Africa

While, the world has its focus on the global economic upheaval, South Africa faces its own political upheaval—one that will define the young republic’s modern history.

Last week, Thabo Mbeki, the second president of post-Apartheid South Africa, announced his resignation. The resignation comes only after a bitter battle with the African National Conference (ANC) party leader and former deputy vice president Jacob Zuma. President Mbeki will be leaving office on Thursday after accusations that he interfered in the prosecution of Zuma on corruption charges.

Jacob Zuma served as Mbeki’s deputy president from 1999 until 2005 when Mbeki let Zuma go due to corruption charges against him. Since then, the two prominent leaders have been at odds with each other. Those tensions heightened when Zuma was elected last December as the leader of the ANC Party. That election makes Zuma the clear favorite in the upcoming 2009 elections to become the third President of South Africa.

Mbeki was elected in 1999 and reelected in 2004. In his time as president he has had his glory moments and equally dark moments. His is well respected for his diplomacy efforts throughout the continent. He has supported peace operations in Burundi, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast. Although not very fruitful, Mbeki has also moderated a number of peace talks between long-time Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

But his role at home is cause for many South Africans’ disapproval. His infamous refusal to recognize the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a crisis in his country still haunts him today. He is also blamed, although maybe not rightly, for the increased economic gap between the rich and the poor. In addition, he received much criticism for firing Zuma as his deputy president in 2005.

The biggest obstacle to Zuma’s presidency was the corruption charges held against him. It has been perceived that Mbeki was interfering with the trial. "The political elite within the ANC then felt that the Jacob Zuma trial would never go away while Thabo Mbeki was in office," Adam Habib, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg, told the BBC this week.

Because of Zuma’s current control over the ANC, Mbeki’s presidency has been rather restrictive during the past nine months so his resignation will not disrupt domestic political life.

So what’s next?

This is a defining moment in South African politics. So far, the country’s story of democracy has been a success. Thabo Mbeki is the country’s second president elected through democratic process and 2009 will bring the country’s 4th national election season.

So far the peaceful transition is telling of a working democratic society. But the rise of Jacob Zuma, a self-declared socialist and economic populist, will determine the course for South Africa. If the lifting of corruption charges are truly a result of the political elite, then South Africa could be in for a bumpy ride. Only time will tell…