Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa

[August1991]

Imagine how you would react if Gordon Brown opened and closed his election rallies by bursting into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging to the hypnotic chorus of this menacing ditty.

And how would you feel if the Prime Minister were alleged to be taking campaign money from Colonel Gaddafi; faced 783 counts of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and corruption which somehow never came to court; and had been acquitted of rape while his fearsome supporters mobbed the courthouse?

Then ponder how you would despair if, despite all these things, Mr Brown's party was certain to win the election whatever he did or said.

If you can picture all this happening here, then you have an inkling of the horrible process South Africa is now going through. Except it is much, much worse.

Link

This is a remarkable article. Elections will be held on 22 April.

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For many, the ANC's new leader, Jacob Zuma, embodies the party's decay. He won the leadership in late 2007 after a vicious fight with predecessor Thabo Mbeki that split the party — and led to COPE's formation. In 2005 his business adviser, Shabir Shaik, was sentenced to 15 years for soliciting bribes for him, and for years Zuma has faced a related prosecution for corruption, racketeering, fraud, money-laundering and tax evasion. Last month, Shaik secured an early release because of hypertension. On April 6, after three years of trying to bring Zuma to court, the National Prosecuting Authority dropped the case. State prosecutors denied yielding to pressure by the incoming Zuma government, while arguing — after years of denial — that their case had been irretrievably compromised by pressure from the old Mbeki administration.

Zuma's supporters insist he is just the man to fight for the interests of those left behind in South Africa's first years of freedom.

Time

[M.Dancer]

Imagine how you would react if Gordon Brown opened and closed his election rallies by bursting into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging to the hypnotic chorus of this menacing ditty.

The Bombs Bursting in air..?

or one of my three favourites

O Lord, our God, arise,

Scatter her enemies,

And make them fall.

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save us all.

and...

Aux armes, citoyens,

Formez vos bataillons,

Marchons, marchons !

Qu'un sang impur

Abreuve nos sillons !

...and of course the other....

Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,

En Garde!

[DogOnPorch]

South Afrika is still an apartied state...just the other way around, now.

[August1991]

The Bombs Bursting in air..?

Sorry, but I see a difference between a battle in 1812 and a reference to an AK-47. To begin with, we in the West are no longer in the 19th century.

The ANC’s victory was never in doubt, but most pundits expected widespread voter disgruntlement to result in a sharply reduced majority.

In the event, the share of the vote was down - from 69.7% in 2004 to 65.9%, just short of a two-thirds majority - but the lead was decisive.

...

However, Zuma moved to reassure the opposition, saying last night: “We may disagree on how to build a better life for all, but what unites us is the fact that this country belongs to all of us, black, white, coloured, Indian, together.”

Jonathan Shapiro, the political cartoonist who is engaged in a long-running feud with Zuma, says he “snorts derisively” whenever the president-elect defends free speech. “It’s lip service,” he says.

Zuma counters that Shapiro’s cartoons are insulting and has sued him for libel.

The Times

What are the odds that Zuma, in Mugabe style, arranges an ANC 2/3s majority in the National Assembly?

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I lived in Sri Lanka for a year or so but I know nothing first hand about South Africa. If someone can correct me, I'd like to know.