Mandela Gives Control Of Anc To His Heir Apparent Winnie Mandela Gives Up Her Bid, Ensuring Thabo Mbeki’s Presidency

President Nelson Mandela relinquished control Wednesday of the ruling African National Congress to his handpicked successor, Thabo Mbeki, virtually assuring the Communist revolutionary-turned-free-marketeer will become South Africa’s second black president in 1999.

Already in command of most day-to-day activities of the federal government - Mandela this week described Mbeki, his deputy president, as the country’s de facto president - the 55-year-old career ANC official promised to stay the course charted by Mandela as ANC leader over the past six years.

“We have been in the ANC for many, many years and have been party to all of the processes that have been going on,” said Mbeki, flanked at a news conference by several new ANC officials. “And so what will happen is a continuation of what we have been doing for very many years.”

The handover of power was followed by cheers, dancing and singing throughout the convention center, a college sports hall in the rural North West province where the ANC is holding its 50th national conference.

A beaming Mandela, who said his formal goodbyes to the party faithful Tuesday, raised Mbeki’s arm in a victory salute. Also on hand was Govan Mbeki, the new ANC president’s father and an elder statesman of the anti-apartheid struggle. The elder Mbeki was sentenced to prison with Mandela in 1963.

Shortly after taking over his powerful new post, Mbeki was handed an unexpected but welcome gift by one of the ANC’s most unpredictable and combative members.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela abruptly abandoned her bid for the party’s No. 2 job, ending fears of a divisive clash between the mainstream party leadership and her more radical supporters.

Madikizela-Mandela was nominated on the convention floor for the post of deputy president as an alternative to provincial ANC leader Jacob Zuma, who was the unanimous choice of the regional branches, Mbeki’s personal favorite for the job and the eventual winner. An early show of hands gave only scattered support for her nomination, and Mandela’s former wife withdrew her name from contention, offering no explanation.

The swift and uneventful departure of Madikizela-Mandela - the biggest wild card of the five-day convention - assured that Mbeki will have his way in assembling a team of ANC leaders to prepare for the 1999 elections.