South Africa

Very interesting article by Mondli Makhanya in the latest Sunday Times dealing with the "split" in the ANC over Jay-Z. The following paragraphs really caught my eye - 

 

"In the absence of visible leadership from Mbeki, ANC alliance structures looked for a substitute leader they could relate to. In Jacob Zuma they found a willing and enthusiastic champion. They found in him the comforting father who would listen to their frustrations and share perspectives on the direction of party and republic. When the nation was going through a period of depression over the President’s views on HIV/Aids, Zuma seemed the sensible man, who said all the right things and appeared at all the right places. When Mbeki would absent-mindedly clap along to struggle tunes at party gatherings, Zuma would grab the microphone and lead the masses in song. And when Mbeki was seen on television arriving at foreign locales or addressing high-powered conferences, Zuma seemed to be present on the ground. He came to be loved and respected.

 

So when it emerged that Zuma had sold his soul to French arms dealers and other influence-pedlars, he was always going to be the recipient of great sympathy. And when his supporters started speaking darkly about conspiracies, they found fertile ground.

 

The distant President’s cold and sometimes contemptuous relationship with many in the upper echelons of the ANC and its alliance partners drove senior members of the coalition into Zuma’s hands."

 

Goes a long way in explaining a lot of things about the current Jay-Z debacle...In addition, Makhanya discusses the ugly side of the rise of populism and its danger to our country -

 

"Should the Zuma camp achieve any measure of success, South Africa’s ruling party will lose much of the sophistication it has developed over the decades. We will see a regression to raw politics — the kind of politics that says it is okay to take short cuts with the law, and which does not respect order.One just has to look at the positions articulated by the Zuma camp during the course of the battle. This camp has, in the words of an ANC activist, “shown us the worst that this country can be.

 

It has told us that corruption is fine as long as it is practised by someone of good political standing, and of sympathetic ideology. The attacks on the judiciary and law enforcement agencies give us a glimpse of how state institutions would be regarded and treated should this camp gain ascendancy."

 

Great article, definitely worth a read...