This week, Zuma was quoted as saying, 'When the British came to our country, they said everything we are doing was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in whatever way.' But the serious critique of Zuma is not about who is a barbarian and who is civilised. It is about good governance, and this is a universal value, as relevant to an African village as it is to Westminster. If you are unable to keep your appetites in check, you are inevitably going to live beyond your means. And this means you are going to become vulnerable to patronage and even corruption. That is why Jacob Zuma's 'polygamy' is his achilles heel.
Mark GevisserStichwörter: politics self-control africa sex civilisation corruption racism south-africa britain british polygamy 2010 jacob-zuma culture-of-africa good-governance patronage superiority-complex westminster
There is one key area in which Zuma has made no attempt at reconciliation whatsoever: criminal justice and security. The ministers of justice, defence, intelligence (now called 'state security' in a throwback to both apartheid and the ANC's old Stalinist past), police and communications are all die-hard Zuma loyalists. Whatever their line functions, they will also play the role they have played so ably to date: keeping Zuma out of court—and making sure the state serves Zuma as it once did Mbeki.
Mark GevisserStichwörter: justice crime police south-africa reconciliation national-security 2009 criminal-justice apartheid communications stalinism african-national-congress cronyism jacob-zuma minister-of-state-security thabo-mbeki
What in Mandela was seen as an almost saintly ability to conciliate could, in a lesser man, be read as weak-kneed populism.
Mark GevisserStichwörter: populism south-africa nelson-mandela 2009 jacob-zuma conciliation
Even if Zuma was to develop the authoritarian impulses of a Mugabe, he would be checked—not least by his own party, which set a continental precedent by ousting Thabo Mbeki in 2007, after it felt he had outstayed his welcome by seeking a third term as party president. The ANC appears to have set itself against that deathtrap of African democracy: the ruler for life.
Mark GevisserStichwörter: democracy africa authoritarianism south-africa 2009 zimbabwe african-national-congress jacob-zuma 2007 robert-mugabe
Remember one thing as South Africa prepares to go to the polls this week and the world grapples with the ascendancy of the African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma: South Africa is not Zimbabwe.
In South Africa, no one doubts that Wednesday's elections will be free and fair. While there is an unacceptable degree of government corruption, there is no evidence of the wholesale kleptocracy of Robert Mugabe's elite. While there has been the abuse of the organs of state by the ruling ANC, there is not the state terror of Mugabe's Zanu-PF. And while there is a clear left bias to Zuma's ANC, there is no suggestion of the kind of voluntarist experimentation that has brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
Stichwörter: politics elections corruption government south-africa leftism 2009 zimbabwe african-national-congress jacob-zuma robert-mugabe kleptocracy sa-general-election-2009 voluntarism zanu-pf
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