allAfrica.com: Uganda: Mbeki is Africa's Loss (Page 1 of 1)

It is unfortunate President Thabo Mbeki lost in such a manner after all his achievements for South Africa, and one should say; his efforts to make Africa a worthy partner in world affairs. Mr Jacob Zuma, the man he fired as vice president pipped him at the party polls.

Mr Zuma never raised any policy suggestions through the whole contest. He is a man who says he will listen to anybody and be guided by his party, the African National Congress, ANC. It is mainly vocal people around him who have been doing the talking, while he does the dancing before the crowds. He is indeed warm with people and has public appeal. This endeared him so well to the masses. The ability of his main backers to reach the masses was greatly underestimated.

On the other hand, President Mbeki was the intellectual who spent most of his time discussing policy and the position of Africa on the world stage. His language, usually coined in poetry, was not understood by the masses. One of the things he is accused of is spending too much time on 'African countries' and forgetting his own.

Such an accusation struck a chord for the common man who could not understand that the economy is growing at a phenomenal rate when he has no housing or that appearing on the international stage is beneficial to him. To him, Darfur means nothing if he has no food.

The present government inherited such an imbalanced economic and social situation that any government, however good, was going to face an uphill battle undoing the damage. Nelson Mandela was a politician of such appeal that people would never see the shortcomings of his government. But any government following his was going to find it tough. Mbeki being a CEO, not a politician, concentrated on economics and has indeed done excellently on that front. It is indeed the lack of political skills that eventually led to his downfall.

He also adamantly failed to admit that the crime levels are high and that the Zimbabwean crisis is greatly affecting South Africa. He is somebody who would never do something to attain popularity like many politicians do. He was simply a workaholic, spending most of his nights on the Internet researching and writing. He is said to have written nine out of the best 10 of both Oliver Tambo and Mandela's speeches.

But now the big question is where to? Many people don't seem to know and this uncertainly is unsettling. Most of the intellectuals, intelligentsia and big business are not happy at the change. Many of the people vehemently supporting Mr Zuma have questionable credentials; either with the law, ethics or delivery. Mr Mbeki being Mr Delivery and a man who works by the book, many of them indeed have a reason to dislike him.

Another unsettling thing is that many of Zuma's supporters have shown little tolerance for dissent and judicial decisions that are not in their favour. However now, his backers are saying that he will work as part of a collective and will therefore be guided. This in itself is a problem - not having a decision of his own.

There are some rumours that some western powers would be happier working with Zuma rather than Mbeki because he is agreeable. Mbeki is said to have stood up to them.

Some African countries are also rumoured to have funded Mbeki's downfall because he made them uncomfortable.

Mbeki's remaining 18 months are not going to be very easy. He will be a President who will be taking orders from a party that does not support him. Zuma as head of the party will be able, for instance, to phone him and tell him not to go on with a certain programme because it is not in line with ANC policy.

The political structure here is such that the ruling party selects one of its members (not necessarily its President) to be the President of the country. The Zuma camp voted as a block against all Mbeki's people such that Mbeki has no supporters in all ANC decision making structures. If they want, they can recall him, though this is a position they say they will not pursue and it is a position the business community would not support because of its likely instability impact.

So many in South Africa are looking ahead with a mixture of uncertainty and anxiety. However one thing in this whole contest, common to many of our African countries, was lacking - violence. Nobody was beaten, tortured or imprisoned because of their political position.

Mr Twinoburyo is a Ugandan working in Pretoria, South Africa

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