WILL the new South African president, Jacob Zuma, break into spontaneous dance whenever he delivers a speech to the international community?
So far (as far as I know), he has managed to keep his rousing rendition of the now out-of-context Umkhonto we Sizwe war cry Mshini Wami confined to national fora such as political rallies and other platforms he has been provided with to defend his innocence against the many charges levelled against him in the recent past.
The reason I ask is simple. Beyond his amazing agility and moves to rival Michael Jackson in the prime of his musical career, Zuma does not seem to offer much else. I have serious problems in looking beyond the misgivings of a man who claims that taking a shower after unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person can prevent transmission of the virus. That statement will forever stick in my mind whenever Zuma's name is mentioned to me.
Zubeida Jaffer writes of her pride in being South African at seeing how the African National Congress handled its leadership transition. But, she adds, the splitting of the movement into two camps leaves ordinary South African voters with a huge dilemma.
I woke up this morning with the strong sense that the ANC had turned a corner. Last night when Dren Nupen of the election agency announced that Jacob Zuma had won, it was as if she had released the valve on a pressure cooker. The steam burst through noisily to welcome his victory, spreading through the marquee where delegates, guests and media were jam-packed. The worst had happened for some and the best for others.
Once the initial euphoria had died down and many journalists had rushed off to file their stories, I wandered down the hall and made my way past different sets of delegations so that I could observe their moods and gauge their reactions. Those who had lost were subdued while those who had won kept smiling. They were all trying to concentrate on finalising nominations for the National Executive Committee.
Pushed around, literally, by security guards at the national conference of the African National Congress, Charlayne Hunter-Gault reflects on whether the ANC understands the needs of journalists and the place of a free media in a democracy.
I should have known it was too good to be true. That J Zed was actually going to meet the media the same night of his election to his most promising and sought-after job—president of the African National Congress… with the promise of being the President of the RSA.
And it was. Late last night, J Zed's people sent word that the presser was off—but only until this morning at 11. Agh shame, as they say in South Africa—for both good things and bad (depends on the emphasis and context… in this one, it was for not so good things, like timing, as I had an NPR piece to do and couldn't edit until the following morning around 8. Which meant that I had to work through the night to be ready for the edit and the presser by J Zed. Which I did, with every conceivable computer glitch , save one—the kind of crash I had in Khartoum covering the Elders. But, once again, for now, enough about me…
Cyril Madlala , editor of KwaZulu-Natal's UmAfrika newspaper, hopes that the new ANC president with a warm heart and time to listen has learned lessons from his predecessor's fate. To comment, click on the box at top right [free sign-up].
The overwhelming rejection of Thabo Mbeki as president of the ANC by delegates to the ANC's 52nd national conference in Polokwane goes some way to indicate that either he employs useless advisers or he ignores their wise counsel.
How else does one explain how he failed so dismally to gauge the mood of anger against his determination to hang on to power for a third term? More importantly, how could he not have been aware that support for his deputy, Jacob Zuma, among ordinary ANC members was across the country and not confined to KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma's home base?
Charlayne Hunter-Gault describes the scene for allAfrica readers from the floor of the ANC's national conference. To comment, click on the box at top right [free sign-up].
It's a Zuma wipe out.
Not only does he take the top spot by a huge margin (2329 votes to Thabo Mbeki's 1505), but his entire slate comes in by similarly huge margins.
Zubeida Jaffer reveals the thinking behind the belief of President Thabo Mbeki's supporters that they can still prevail in the race for the party presidency now under way in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo.
As I write, long lines of ANC conference delegates are snaking through squat university buildings that resemble a high school. Bear in mind that this university, now known as the University of Limpopo, was the former Turfloop university, one of the ethnic institutions established under apartheid. Its very architecture speaks of this past inferior status.
The lines of delegates are waiting to vote for the top six officials of the organisation, filmed by camera crews who came out in full force, trying to capture the unfolding drama. By later this evening we should know who will be the ANC's president for the next five years.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports on how the ANC embarked on damage control after the exuberant behavior of presidential challenger Jacob Zuma's supporters at the ANC conference on Sunday.
To no one's surprise, Thabo Mbeki, president of the ruling African National Congress Party and his deputy, Jacob Zuma were nominated tonight for the position Mbeki now holds.
The mood in the cavernous hall was a lot lighter than the previous day, no doubt the result of the damage control mode the party seniors went into after what they conceded was a bad day at green, black and gold rock on Sunday.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who reports on the ANC conference principally for National Public Radio in the United States, continues her personal reflections on the process.
This Monday morning broke grey with a pouring rain that somehow made me think of two bits of folk wisdom that seem to capture this—the moment of decision for the ANC. In the US, the saying goes: "When it rains, it pours." Africans say: "Rain is a sign of good fortune."
Well, that about sums up where we are on day two of the ANC conference. At this point, we had expected to have nominees, and voting underway, for the top six positions in the party—including the divisive campaign for the presidency between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.
Award-winning South African journalist Zubeida Jaffer, who has chronicled South Africa's struggle for liberation from the inside, sums up the first day of the ANC's five-yearly conference in the northern province of Limpopo.
When we arrived at the University of Limpopo this morning, groups of delegates chanting in favour of two opposing presidential candidates were making their way to a large white marquee constructed especially for the ANC conference.
Since the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, I have covered the four-year and then five-year conferences regularly, and the scene was not unusual – the opening sessions have always been characterized by boisterous singing of freedom songs, much ululating and exchanges of warm greetings.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault continues her reflection from the floor of the ANC conference in Polokwane, in South Africa's northern Limpopo province.
The reaction of many - if not the majority - inside the packed hall at the conclusion of Thabo Mbeki's speech of some 2-1/2 hours was to sing "Awulethu Mshini Wami" - in Zulu, "Bring me my machine gun"- the theme song of J Zed.
This kind of disrespect would never have happened in the previous two ANC conferences I attended. On the other hand, Mbeki insiders later told me that they thought they were narrowing the big J Zed lead and that they might still lose, but they don't want to lose ignominiously, which would mean losing a strong voice inside the Party.
