Motlanthe sworn in as SA president

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CAPE TOWN Former union organiser and anti-apartheid activist Kgalema Motlanthe became South Africa’s third president yesterday, vowing to keep pro-growth economic policies with a fresh emphasis on fighting poverty.

He took the reins of government from Thabo Mbeki, who last weekend was forced to resign by his own party.

Motlanthe won 269 of the 360 votes cast in a secret ballot in parliament, and quickly moved to reassure the nation and the world that he would be a steady hand, especially in maintaining economic policies that have brought sustained growth in recent years.

"We will not allow that the work of government be interrupted," the 59-year-old said in his first speech to parliament, shortly after taking his oath of office.

"We will not allow the stability of our democratic order to be compromised. And we will not allow the confidence that our people have in the ability of the state to respond to their needs to be undermined," he added.

He is expected to have a short-lived presidency, guiding the country to elections next year, when ANC leader — and Mbeki’s rival — Jacob Zuma is tipped to take power.

The ANC has taken pains to offer assurances that Motlanthe’s election will not provoke any major changes in government, and his cabinet line-up maintained key figures in critical posts.

Respected Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, seen by investors as crucial to the nation’s economic growth, will remain in his position, as will ministers for foreign affairs, trade and industry and education.

The health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was moved to the post of minister in the presidency.

The new president also named a new minister for safety and security, saying he would seek to clamp down on rampant crime in a country where 50 people are killed every day.

In his speech to parliament, Motlanthe notably vowed to step up efforts to fight poverty, another major concern with 43 percent of the population living on less than US$2 a day.

"We will intensify the all-round effort to accelerate the rate of growth and job creation, and ensure that the benefits of growth are equally shared by all our people," he said.

"We remain on course to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014. We remain determined to stamp out crime, violence and abuse, whomever it affects and wherever it manifests itself."

But much of Motlanthe’s job will require him to tap into his reputation as a political peacemaker to build bridges between supporters of Zuma and Mbeki before next year’s elections.

Mbeki bowed to the party’s call to resign from the presidency following a damning court ruling that hinted he was instrumental in a decision to prosecute his longtime rival Zuma, whom he fired as the country’s deputy president in 2005.

He has denied the allegations and is appealing that aspect of the ruling in a bid to clear his name from the insinuation of judicial meddling.

The outgoing president had been increasingly at loggerheads with his party, which split into two camps behind him and Zuma when he made his failed bid to run for a third term as party president at a crunch ANC conference last year. — AFP.