African leaders are happy after Mbeki sacked his deputy:
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been praised in South Africa and abroad for sacking his deputy, Jacob Zuma.
Mr Mbeki acted after the trial of Mr Zuma’s financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, appeared to implicate the deputy president in corruption.
The president’s announcement has been welcomed as a signal of Africa’s determination to fight corruption.
Mr Zuma was once seen as the heir apparent to the presidency, and remains a popular figure.
“In a young democracy like ours, it’s all about setting solid precedents that will stand our society in good stead decades and even generations from now,” The Star newspaper said in its Wednesday editorial.
“President Thabo Mbeki, by dismissing his deputy Jacob Zuma, put another important building block in place,” the editorial continued.
Governments elsewhere in Africa welcomed Mr Mbeki’s announcement as pointing the way forward for the continent.
“It is a very important move which shows we realise some of our pitfalls and we will not wait on US President [George W] Bush and British Prime Minister [Tony] Blair to tell us what should be done for us to get more aid,” Zambian Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande told Reuters news agency.
Kenyan Planning and National Development Minister Peter Anyang Nyongo said “Thabo Mbeki has clearly demonstrated that nobody is too high up in the official hierarchy of power not to be subjected to the rule of law”.
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe….
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