Zuma now sure to be one-term president only

In December 2007, South Africa observed with keen interest developments at the African National Congress’ national policy conference in Polokwane. Not quite halfway to the next conference, minds already are turning to Bloemfontein in 2012. As a very early succession race continues to gain momentum, it seems increasingly likely that his own party will deny President Jacob Zuma a second term as the country’s First Citizen. There does not, however, seem to be any solid basis to expect that Zuma will be forced from office even before his current term expires. The damage to the ANC itself would simply be too great if that were to occur.

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Tensions in the ANC Alliance sharpen focus on corruption

If anything good is to emerge from the current worsening tensions within the ruling Alliance consisting of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies – the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SA Communist Party (SACP) – it is that this has caused the assault on corruption to have been stepped up dramatically.

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The changing face of South African cartooning

Edited by Andy Mason and John Curtis, Don’t Joke! The Year in Cartoons is a collection of some 400 political cartoons published in South African newspapers over the past year. According to the back-cover blurb, “South Africa’s cartooning maestros join forces with the new post-apartheid generation to tell the story of the most event-filled year since 1994. Hard-hitting and hilarious, Don’t Joke! brings it all back in a rush of satires, parodies and flights of fancy that’ll rearrange your head”.

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Governments family fight turning ugly

The marriage between the partners in the governing ANC-alliance seems to be heading for the rocks with an ugly divorce becoming increasingly more likely. While the fight over the assets created by and for the partners over a more than 15-year union steeped in a system of patronage can be expected to turn it into a drawn-out and messy affair, results of local government by-elections last week seem to suggest that the “children have noticed.” Dangerous times seem to lie ahead for the South African family.

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