MAFIKENG, Dec 18: Thabo Mbeki was elected president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday, succeeding Nelson Mandela, but the South African President's former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela declined nomination as deputy president. Fifty five-year-old Mbeki was elected unopposed as the chief of the party that bagged two-thirds majority in the last election, the first in the post-apartheid era.

In his acceptance speech, Mbeki thanked all for their cooperation and said, ``The message from all of you to the leadership of the ANC is a very clear one, and it is that the revolution has not been completed.''

But Mandela's disappointed ex-wife withdrew her candidature for the deputy president's post when she realised that she did not enjoy the support of most of the 4,000 delegates attending the 50th annual conference of the ANC.

After she was nominated from the floor during the elections for the top six party positions, she was asked whether she would accept the nomination.

Madikizela-Mandela pleaded for an adjournment to enable her to consult her constituents, but the newly elected president turned it down as she was nominated from the floor and not by the regions or the ANC Women's League of which she is the president.

She then strode to the microphone and announced: ``To the comrades who nominated me, I thank you very much, but I am declining the nomination.'' The delegates rose in unison to applaud her decision and shouted ``ANC, ANC''. The withdrawal of Madikizela-Mandela meant Kwazulu-Natal leader Jacob Zuma was elected unopposed to the position of deputy president.

African High Commissioner to London Mendi Msimang was elected treasurer general and former secretary general of the National Union of Mine Workers Khalema Motlanthle as secretary general. Responding on behalf of those elected, Mbeki said their election meant that the delegates had the utmost faith and confidence in them. ``We still need to organise ourselves to achieve what the ANC has fought for all these decades,'' Mbeki said in his address to the delegates. ``The struggle continues,'' he said to thunderous applause.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.