Change of Guard in South Africa

The 67-year-old controversial politician Jacob Zuma has been sworn-in as President of South Africa. The charismatic African National Congress (ANC) leader, who overcame rape and graft charges to lead his party to a landslide win in the April 22 general elections, will be the fourth democratically elected South African President since apartheid ended in 1994.

Zuma’s inauguration culminated his extraordinary comeback to the political arena dominated for long by the ANC, which had swept the April general elections bagging 264 seats in the 400-member Parliament.

As several heads of state witnessed the ceremony at the majestic Union Buildings in Pretoria bearing close resemblance to the power centre on the Raisina Hills in New Delhi, Acting President Kgalema Motlanthe bestowed the highest civil honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, on Zuma. Expectedly, the former President, Nelson Mandela, received the most applause when he arrived with the crowd breaking into songs praising him. But Africa Union President and Libyan leader Maummar Gaddafi also received an ovation as did several leaders of the South African liberation movement.

Strong Leader
The ANC has registered a massive win in South Africa’s general election, the fourth since the end of apartheid in 1994. With 65.9 per cent of the vote in the hybrid proportional electoral system, it has won 264 seats in the 400-seat Parliament. There are plenty of indications that charismatic party President Zuma will be a strong leader. Although the ANC has repeatedly stated that it w ould not tinker with the Constitution, it is considered significant that it has fallen just short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution. The national context today is more complex than the circumstances in which previous elections took place. Unemployment is officially 21.9 per cent, and the actual figure could be twice that, if those who have stopped seeking work are included. The country has been scarred by violent crime, with 18,000 homicides a year. Life expectancy at birth, at 49 years, is lower than the pan-African average.

Political Competition
This election witnessed a degree of political competition, with rival parties and groupings campaigning as alternatives to the ANC. On a national turnout of 77 per cent, the Democratic Alliance (DA) won 16.7 per cent of the vote and 67 seats, but its strength is mainly among non-Africans in the Western Cape. The Congress of the People (Cope), comprising elements who broke away from the ANC, took 7.4 per cent of the vote and 30 seats, but Independent Democrats (ID) have slipped from 1.73 per cent in 2001 to an insignificant 0.91 per cent this time.

Indian-Origin Activists in Cabinet
Two Indian-origin activists Pravin Gordhan and Roy Padaychee were inducted into the cabinet headed by Zuma. Gordhanan, a former anti-apartheid activist of Indian-origin and the current Commissioner of Revenue is tipped to become South Africa's next Finance Minister.

TheGordhan, 60, who is the son of working class Gujrathi parents, studied at the former University of Durban-Westville, where he began his anti-apartheid activities. Later, qualified as a chemist in the late 1970s he worked at a local hospital during the apartheid days.

The former anti-apartheid activist joined the African National Congress (ANC) underground and played an important role in mobilising the Indian-origin community in organisations such as Durban Housing Action Committee, anti-South African Indian Council(SAIC) Committee, Natal Indian Congress and the former United Democratic Front(UDF).

In the 1980s, he was arrested and detained by the then security police after being considered a "communist" and a threat to the security of the state. When the ANC was disbanded in the early 1990s, Gordhan played an important role in the democratic negotiations as a leader of the Natal Indian Congress delegation.

In 1994, he was chosen as an ANC member of parliament and after completing one term was appointed as the Commissioner of Revenue. He turned the Revenue Department around into one of the most efficient and effective organs of the State.

Lessons for India
One often wonders why we Indians cannot elect our governments peacefully even 62 years after Independence while former communist countries where democracy has been introduced only recently can hold theirs without disruption or disorder. This feeling is accentuated by the sharp contrast in our election and that just concluded in South Africa, a country where democracy arrived only in 1995 when the scourge of apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela, happily still with us, ushered in a brave new era.

In a matter of days the elections were conducted in an exemplary manner and the results declared without any delay or dispute. It is perhaps revealing that the Indian media, print or electronic, hardly took notice of the South African poll while the rest of world took a keen interest in it.

Politically too, it can play an increasingly significant role on the world stage. Zuma, who is reputed to be close to his people, can set a new tone for governance in his country if he concentrates on raising living standards and resists the temptations that overweening power often brings.