Snippets from South Africa, June 2005
But Mbeki may have miscalculated. Zuma enjoys huge popular support among Zulus and others, and Mbeki’s decision has revealed deep-seated tensions within the ANC. At a “Youth Day” celebration on June 16 held in Durban, young Zuma supporters chanted “We want Zuma” and flung missiles of empty plastic containers, fruit and stones at the police (The Witness, June 17, 2005). Even the speech of S’bu Ndebele, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province and a leading ANC figure, was disrupted by the crowds chanting pro-Zuma slogans, and he had to be escorted out of the stadium under a makeshift shield – a table – to protect him from the missiles (The Witness, June 18, 2005)! And in Nelspruit, the angry crowd chanted “Down with Mbeki! Up with Zuma!” Clearly, President Mbeki has a massive challenge in Jacob Zuma. Mbeki himself is often viewed as distant, intellectual, and is nowhere near as popular amongst the masses as his predecessor, Nelson Mandela. Zuma is clearly a very great favourite among them.
Things were so heated, in fact, that the provincial structures of the ANC held a crisis meeting in Durban to discuss how to deal with the anger among grassroots supporters over the sacking of Zuma.
If Zuma were to decide to start his own party, it would draw away a significant amount of support from the ANC. Although he was sacked as the country’s Deputy President, he remained the Deputy President of the AMC. He was careful in his speeches to insist that he is still a loyal member of the ANC. Time will tell.
Political analyst Protas Madlala said, “This will cause more harm than good to the [ANC].” And, “The political landscape [within the ANC] will be shaken by the sacking of Zuma and this will have a serious bearing on the party” (The Witness, June 15, 2005).
Good! We rejoice to see such infighting among the ranks of the Reds! Let the ANC/SACP/Cosatu alliance fight amongst themselves! Let them argue and bicker and have their power struggles. If a split occurs, well and good. We won’t shed any tears. Anything that weakens the terrorist ANC and its Communist alliance partners is a good thing in our books.
We were also treated to the spectacle of the liberal, ANC-supporting, Christ-denying “churches” meeting with Zuma to give him “pastoral support.” The meeting was attended by a delegation from the “KwaZulu-Natal Church Leaders Group”, and included an Anglican bishop and a Methodist female “bishopess” (The Witness, June 14, 2005). Of course, whenever the Red and almost-Red “churches” can get a foot in the door, they do.
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