The ruling African National Congress named party deputy head Kgalema Motlanthe (photo) as South Africa?s caretaker leader yesterday to replace President Thabo Mbeki, ANC members of parliament said.

Motlanthe, who already sits in the cabinet, was named to take over from Mbeki until elections due around April next year during a meeting of the ANC?s parliamentary caucus, ANC MPs told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Motlanthe is a left-leaning intellectual who has never sought the limelight.

When asked if it was true that Motlanthe was the candidate named to replace Mbeki, an ANC MP said ?Yes, it is?.

ANC spokesman Khotso Khumalo said parliament will vote on the president in the next few days. Khumalo declined to comment on whether Motlanthe had been named as president to take over from Mbeki. ?The political leadership is addressing the matter and getting hold of the chief justice and from then on, it will be nomination and voting,? Khumalo said.

Mbeki, who presided over South Africa?s longest period of economic growth, said in a televised address on the day before he had tendered his resignation after the ANC asked him to quit before the end of his term next year.

The ANC made its request eight days after a judge threw out corruption charges against party leader Jacob Zuma, suggesting there was high-level political meddling in the case.

News of Mbeki?s departure helped push South Africa?s rand weaker in overnight trading although traders said the political moves would not affect the currency much in the short term.

Analysts say the currency, which weakened by as much as 1.7 %, will remain vulnerable in the transition period and that any volatile changeover will have a negative impact.

?While investors may welcome greater certainty in terms of the future political outlook, a more volatile political transition is likely to cost the country dearly,? said Razia Khan, Standard Chartered regional head of research for Africa.

Mbeki, who took over from Nelson Mandela as president in 1999, said on Sunday he remained a loyal ANC member and respected the party?s decision but repeated that he did not influence the prosecution in the case of Zuma, his rival.

Zuma, who holds no government post, is all but certain to become head of state in an election in 2009.

WHO IS KGALEMA MOTLANTHE ?

■ Appointed to cabinet in July this year, Motlanthe risked his political reputation by publicly defending Jacob Zuma in the face of corruption allegations after he was sacked by Mbeki as the country?s deputy president in 2005.

■ He is understood to be favoured by Zuma to become his deputy should Zuma become president. Motlanthe was elected ANC deputy president in December 2007.

■ A left-leaning intellectual, Motlanthe has never sought the limelight. His exact date of birth is unknown, but he is believed to be about 58.

■ He is a former student activist, a trade unionist and a former soldier in the ANC?s disbanded military wing UmKhonto we Sizwe.

■ Motlanthe was detained in 1976 for 11 months for pursuing the aims of the ANC liberation movement. In 1977 he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was jailed on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela under the racist apartheid regime.

■ In 1992 he was elected secretary-general of the National Union of Mineworkers, bedrock of the trade union federation COSATU.

■ In 1997, when politician-businessman Cyril Ramaphosa retired from politics, Motlanthe was elected secretary-general of the ANC.