IF YOU LISTEN to the detractors of the two principal protagonists in this week's African National Congress leadership election, you will hear that the choice is between a ruthless, cold and calculating party infighter and a man who can be bought by Western arms dealers. If you listen to their supporters, you will hear the same two men described respectively as the architect of the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in South Africa's history, and a humble Zulu traditionalist who will spread wealth to the people.
So what do Thabo Mbeki, current president, and Jacob Zuma, deputy president of the party say about themselves?
JACOB ZUMA SPOKE earlier this week, on Human Rights Day, at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. We haven't found any South African news site which carried the full text, so we have to point you to the site run by the Friends of Jacob Zuma, which has burst into life in the last few days.
Among Zuma's more interesting observations:
...[T]here should never be a time when the abuse of authority and state power is tolerated or excused. In the same vein, our citizens need to maintain careful watch to ensure the Separation of Powers such that the executive can never exercise undue influence over the judiciary and parliament. I say this as I believe that turning a blind eye to abuses of state power, no matter how small or insignificant they may appear, will eventually result in the unraveling of our system and the undermining of our rights as equal shareholders in our democracy.
Does this mean he believes the Mbeki administration has abused State power to victimise him over the corruption charges he seems likely to face? Or that should he be elected president of the party and still be charged, he will not try to close down the prosecution? Or both?
THERE HAS BEEN PRECIOUS LITTLE detailed interviewing of either of the principal candidates for the party presidency in recent months. Such has been its rarity that a glimpse of brief but robust questioning of Zuma carried on BBC World on Friday came across in South Africa as journalism of refreshing clarity.
Among the more memorable moments: Zuma suggesting, as did his apartheid oppressors, that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, instead of saying the ANC should elect leaders of whom the country would not be ashamed, should stick to praying.
LONGER, AND FASCINATING, was the Mail & Guardian's interview with Thabo Mbeki. On the back foot, with Zuma supported by most ANC branches, the man who is widely held to have acted as Nelson Mandela's de facto prime minister for five years, then was elected President of South Africa for two terms, seemed baffled by his unpopularity.
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Among examples:
Question: In covering your presidency, it's become clear that people are afraid of you. Isn't this the reason they don't criticise you openly?
And:
His bewilderment was a little sad. Did none of the people around him ever tell him what others were saying - no matter how much they may have thought it a minority view?
Four thousand delegates were scheduled to have registered for the conference by the time it opens on Sunday. But indications are that we won't know the outcome of the election for president until much later in the week. So there is lots of debate and intrigue ahead.
Blog compiled by John Allen, managing editor of allAfrica.com
