In the latest stage of an impeccably-managed succession process, Kgalema Motlanthe will replace Thabo Mbeki as president of the Republic of South Africa on Thursday.
 
The appointment of the left-leaning Motlanthe sends a decisive signal that the ‘’Zuma wing’’ of the ANC – whose closest allies are the trade unions and the South African Communist Party – is now in charge. On Thursday, parliament in Cape Town will rubberstamp a new government hierarchy devised at the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg.
 
 Zuma yesterday moved to reassure foreign investors that the appointment of Motlanthe signals continuity. "Our economic policies will remain stable, progressive and unchanged, as decided upon in previous ANC national conferences," he said.
 
Of Motlanthe he said : "I am confident that if given that responsibility he will be equal to the task."
 
The move to install Motlanthe, who is a close ally of Zuma’s, came after the party last week “recalled” Mbeki after nine years in power. Mbeki had clung on to the state presidency after losing the party leadership to Zuma last December. He was finally ousted after a judge suggested he had interfered with the judiciary in an attempt to discredit Zuma.
 
Motlanthe, a former trade union leader who was jailed twice during the apartheid years, was appointed to Mbeki’s cabinet in July after considerable pressure from Zuma. Elected as the ANC’s deputy president in December, Motlanthe was seen as the likely stand-in presidential candidate in 2009 in the event that Zuma should lose a major corruption case.
 
 Zuma faced 16 charges ranging from money-laundering to tax evasion. Ten days ago, Judge Chris Nicholson, who was ruling on the legal merits of the case, sensationally threw it out. The judge inferred that “it is not unbelievable” that Zuma’s case had been brought up as a result of political interference by Mbeki.

That inference – though not proven – was seized on by Zuma’s supporters to end Mbeki’s career. Though Zuma could still be charged, any such move would deepen the rift between Zuma and Mbeki supporters.

Motlanthe was detained for 11 months in 1976 by the apartheid government and the following year was sentenced to 10 years in the notorious Robben Island jail where Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned. After his release, he joined the National Union of Mineworkers and rose to become its secretary-general.

Despite his leftwing track record, Motlanthe is often portrayed as a moderate because his style is much more low-key and apparently reflective than that of the rumbustuous and dance-prone Zuma.

Motlanthe is expected to serve until elections early next year when the ANC is likely to retain the massive majority it has enjoyed since South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994. After those elections, the ANC plans to appoint Jacob Zuma, the controversial president of the party, to the country’s presidency.