JOHANNESBURG, September 07 (AFP) - Thabo Mbeki will resign as South Africa`s president, his spokesman said Saturday, after the governing African National Congress told him to stand down in the interests of ANC unity. "The president has obliged and will step down," presidential spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga told 702 Talk Radio in Johannesburg, within hours of the ANC national executive committee`s call for him to go. Mbeki, 66, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as president in June 1999, has been under fire over allegations that he was influential in pressing corruption charges against ANC leader and political rival Jacob Zuma. "The ANC has decided to recall the president of the republic before his mandate has expired," the ANC`s secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists after a meeting of the party leadership. "Our decision has been concluded, the formalities are now subject to the parliamentary process," Mantashe said, adding that Mbeki "didn`t express shock, he welcomed the news. "We have communicated our decision (to Mbeki) and that we will be going through parliamentary process. He has agreed to participate in that process." 702 Talk Radio said Mbeki -- a key player in mediating an end to the political crisis in Zimbabwe -- had called a meeting of his government for Sunday to decide the way forward .

Mantashe said the decision to ask him to stand down was taken in the interests of party unity. "This is not a punishment," he said. "We decided to take this decision in an effort to heal and reunite the ANC." Under the South African constitution, the president is appointed by parliament, which has been dominated by the ANC since the end of apartheid and the start of majority rule in May 1994. Mbeki`s term was due to expire in mid-2009. The decision now rests with parliament whether to appoint an interim president an call an early election, or install a full acting president to complete the second term. Senior ANC officials had gathered Friday to discuss Mbeki`s future after a September 12 court ruling that cleared Zuma of corruption charges and hinted that Mbeki`s government had interfered in the decision to prosecute him -- an allegation that the president`s office denied. The main opposition Democratic Alliance said the decision to recall Mbeki was "motivated by revenge to settle political scores .

" "The ANC has turned its internal battles into a crisis for South Africa. ANC factionalism has long undermined government`s ability to deliver, and it now threatens to destabilise the entire country," it said in a statement. The Inkatha Freedom Party said the decision represented the "biggest challenge to South Africa since apartheid." Fierce debate followed the September 12 judgment, along with speculation as to whether the ANC would force Mbeki out in a vote of no confidence, ask him to resign, or allow him to serve out his term which ends next year. The dismissal of the charges on a technicality cleared the way for Zuma to become South Africa`s president in elections next year. The main allegation against Zuma had been that he received bribes for protecting French arms company Thint in an investigation into a controversial weapons deal. Judge Chris Nicholson said the decision to throw out the case was not a reflection of Zuma`s guilt or innocence, but a technical decision based on his right to make representations before being recharged .