Johannesburg - South Africa's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was the first member of ousted President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet to confirm her resignation Tuesday.

Mlambo-Ngcuka's spokesman said she had handed in her resignation to Mbeki.

Her resignation comes two days after Mbeki stepped down as president just months before his second and last five-year term was due to run out.

While further cabinet resignations were expected, the wholesale bleed of ministers that had been feared after Mbeki was given his marching orders by his party, appears to have been averted.

A spokesman for Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, said Monday he would also be resigning after Mbeki's resignation comes into effect Thursday.

Mbeki responded to a call from his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to resign over a recent court finding of political interference in the prosecution of his rival, ANC leader Jacob Zuma.

A judge in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on September 12, in setting aside the corruption charges against Zuma on a technicality, inferred Mbeki had a hand in the decision to lay charges against the Zulu politician.

Mbeki has denied interfering in the case and approached the Constitutional Court, the country's top court, on Monday to seek leave to appeal on the grounds that the ruling was "prejudicial" to him and harmed his right to dignity.

On Thursday, the National Assembly will sit to choose an acting president to fill Mbeki's shoes until general elections slated for April or May. The ANC has hinted party deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe is their man for the job.

After the general elections, which the ANC is deemed likely to win, Zuma is expected to become head of state. (dpa)