Here are just a few observations regarding South Africa’s new president, Jacob Zuma:
- Corruption charges dropped
- Rape charges dropped
- Claiming that a shower after sex with an HIV woman protected him from AIDS.
- His famous liberation struggle song, Mshini Wami or “Bring me my machine gun.”
- Talk about changing the Constitution; diminishing local authorities’ power.
With politically instable regimes occupying most African countries, is there a great degree of pressure on Zuma to uphold democratic values? Did Nelson Mandela simply have the high-profile / nice guy role in implementing democracy, but now some of the flaws of the transition period from Apartheid to complete democracy are setting in? Has democracy shot itself in the foot, providing a stage for dictatorship? Or is there hope that in spite of Zuma’s contestable moral stance, the people have spoken and he will follow through on the positive changes made by his ANC predecessors?
Chiwi, his party has already won the elections. Do you have the link to that economist article? It sounds useful.
ReplyDeleteHere's another interesting article that explains a bit why Zuma seems to have been so succesful. Note that many post-independence parties are very successful for a long time (e.g., the Indian National Congress in India), perhaps because of the lingering attachments of the people to the leaders of the independence struggle. People can be very tolerant of their apparent failures!