Llewellyn
King
Read Llewellyn's bio and previous columns
April 30, 2009
In South Africa: Waiting for Zuma, Big Man
What do you call a man
who is a self-professed communist; has been accused of rape but the
charges have been dropped, along with charges of fraud and racketeering;
who practices polygamy and has 18 acknowledged children; and whose
favorite song is “Mshini Wami” (Bring Me My Machine Gun)?
You may call him a
thug, but South Africans are about to call him Mr. President.
Step forward Jacob Zuma,
67, who led the African National Congress (ANC) to a resounding majority
in the recent election and who will shortly be elected president by the
South African parliament. This is a prospect that has delighted the poor
black electorate of South Africa as much as it has terrified the rest of
the population, including the country’s five million whites.
Once again, it would
appear that Africa is throwing up a “Big Man” who will lead them into
the Valley of the Shadow of Death – and leave them there. Think of Idi
Amin of Uganda, Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic and
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who are just three of Africa’s megalomaniacal
villains.
Although much is known
about his bizarre conduct and strangely contradictory pronouncements,
nobody has any real idea of how Zuma will govern. Already he is
suspected of getting a key ally out of a 15-year prison sentence, after
28 months, on alleged medical grounds.
In most things Zuma
left a trail of wreckage behind him, such as when he operated out of the
ANC office in Maputo, Mozambique, during the struggle against apartheid.
Similar stories of wild conduct and corrupt goings on came from Lusaka,
Zambia, where Zuma ran the ANC intelligence network.
Zuma did one
incontrovertibly positive thing: As a Zulu, he was able to stop the
fighting between the Zulus and the Xhosas that threatened to tear the
ANC apart, and with it, South Africa itself, after the fall of
apartheid.
This was not an
inconsiderable achievement, considering the role of the Zulus in South
African history. First the Zulus, at 11 million people, are the largest
ethnic grouping among South Africa’s 48 million people. They are also
the Prussians of South Africa – proud, warlike and with a distinct sense
of superiority. They were formed into a cohesive nation in 1816, under
Shaka Zulu, and were the only African tribe to decisively defeat the
British at Isandalwana in 1879.
For a while it looked
as though the Inkatha Freedom Party, under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, would
imperil the ANC’s grip on power. But Zuma, with Zulu credentials and a
leadership role in the ANC, quieted the Zulu unrest and the ANC
prospered.
Although for many years
Zuma was a member of the Communist Party of South Africa and has talked
of wealth redistribution, recently he has been kinder to business and
even appears to be fascinated by it.
Encouragingly, some of
Zuma’s statements about President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe are stronger
and more critical than anything said by Thabo Mbeki, the man Zuma is
replacing. Mbeki was committed to “quiet diplomacy,” which meant say
nothing and do less. He was part of Africa’s post-colonial omerta: An
implicit vow never to criticize another African leader even when he is a
problem to you – as Zimbabwe is to South Africa with millions of
refugees flooding over the Limpopo River.
White South Africans,
and particularly farmers, are terrified that Zuma may yet take a leaf
out Mugabe’s book and introduce race-based land redistribution and begin
the destruction of the country.
Another concern is
Zuma’s attitude toward AIDS. Mbeki famously did not support Western
therapies for many years, and believed in quack remedies that assisted
in the spread of the disease. Zuma’s alleged rape victim, the
35-year-old daughter of a politician, is known to be HIV-positive. Zuma
said the sex was consensual and he then took a shower to minimize his
chances of catching the virus. That suggested that his knowledge of AIDS
is not much better than Mbeki’s.
Zuma, who likes to sing
and dance at political events, is a conundrum. But there is no mystery
about the challenges facing him: His base is poor and believes in
instant solutions. While it is in Zuma’s power to wreck his beautiful
country as so many other Big Men of Africa have done to theirs, there is
little he can do in a recession to fulfill the expectations of his
neediest supporters. Will he, like Mugabe, try to deflect public opinion
by blaming the prosperous?
© 2009 North Star
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