Zuma says President Mbeki can no longer govern

Zuma was quoted as saying that Thabo Mbeki can no longer govern effectively

South African President Thabo Mbeki can no longer govern effectively after losing the leadership of the country's ruling party, ANC leader Jacob Zuma was quoted as saying today.

Zuma defeated Mbeki at a party election in December and is likely to become state president when Mbeki must step down in 2009 if he defeats corruption charges in court. In an unusually strong and direct attack on Mbeki, Zuma said power was firmly concentrated in the hands of the African National Congress (ANC), suggesting the president's authority had slipped away.

"... if he's not part of the ANC leadership, he doesn't have authority. You can't even take serious decisions in terms of governance," he said in an interview with London's Financial Times published on the newspaper's Web site.

Zuma wont stray from pro-business policies
Zuma is a populist with backing from left-leaning unions who has promised investors he would not stray from pro-business policies that Mbeki has pursued to keep an economic boom going. The ANC leader says those are party policies.

Zuma still faces trial in August on money-laundering and racketeering charges. The rivalry between Zuma and Mbeki has plunged the ANC into the worst internal crisis in its history, creating two centres of power between the government and the ANC.

Asked if Mbeki and most government ministers had a "straitjacket" around them, Zuma said: "The president himself and the ministers' term have to come to an end, and therefore that in itself tells you more where the power lies," Zuma told the Financial Times

"Because you couldn't say there is another power somewhere. In other words, the ANC has to make a decision of the kind of situation that is going to come thereafter."While Mbeki appears to be keeping a low profile these days, Zuma acts like the man who will rule South Africa, despite the prospect of being imprisoned if he loses the court case.

Zuma has been meeting businessmen, and publicly addressing some of the country's most sensitive issues. On Thursday he told South Africa's traditionally white trade union that the minority should not feel threatened. - Reuters