Top S. Africa party picking leader

Plagued by scandal, African National Congress at crossroads

South African President Jacob Zuma arrives Saturday at the start of the ruling African National Congress’ elective conference in Johannesburg.
South African President Jacob Zuma arrives Saturday at the start of the ruling African National Congress’ elective conference in Johannesburg.

JOHANNESBURG -- The fight to replace South African President Jacob Zuma began Saturday as thousands of delegates of the ruling African National Congress gathered to elect a new leader, with Zuma acknowledging "failures" that have threatened the party's future.

The reputation of Nelson Mandela's liberation movement has been battered during the tenure of Zuma, whose second term as party president is up. The winner of the party election is expected to become South Africa's next president in the 2019 elections -- unless the African National Congress loses its overwhelming strength in Parliament, which selects the nation's top executive.

Observers say the party needs to restore its reputation or it could be forced into a governing coalition for the first time. Voters are frustrated with the party as Zuma's administration has been mired in scandal and corruption allegations.

The two clear front-runners for the party post are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former chairman of the African Union Commission and Zuma's ex-wife. The selection is expected to be announced today.

In his final address as party leader, Zuma acknowledged that the African National Congress had been weakened and needed to be renewed. But he blamed outside forces and launched into a broad and bitter attack on the opposition, the judicial system, the news media and civil-society groups.

He reserved his harshest words for the white-dominated business community, saying the party needed to be protected from "corporate greed."

"Theft and corruption in the private sector is as bad as that in government," he said, arguing that "being black and successful is being made synonymous to being corrupt."

The president defended the party's worth despite the challenges, saying it continues to stand for millions of people on the fringes of society. "A heavy responsibility lies upon the shoulders of delegates here ... to renew our movement and to restore its timeless values," he said. "We must give people reason to have faith."

Zuma didn't endorse a successor, saying any of the seven candidates would make a "first-class president." He said he met with them and all agreed to abide by the party's selection.

Ramaphosa has won the support of some of Zuma's fiercest opponents: business groups and middle-class black voters in cities. His own record in business, however -- as a former trade union leader whose African National Congress connections helped him become one of the country's richest men -- has made him a representative of the gulf between South Africa's tiny new black elite and its poor.

Dlamini-Zuma is a medical doctor and anti-apartheid veteran who has the support of many of Jacob Zuma's allies and has adopted his populist rhetoric.

Jacob Zuma could carry on as head of state until 2019, when his term ends, or he could step down or be ousted before then by the new party leader ahead of the general elections. He said "I bear no grudge" against those who already have urged him to step aside.

Under Zuma, unemployment has risen to nearly 30 percent and economic growth has slumped, briefly dipping into recession this year. More than 55 percent of the country lives below the poverty line.

The growing frustration around Zuma led the party to suffer its worst-ever performance in municipal elections in 2016, with its vote share falling below 60 percent for the first time.

"Anyone who wins we are going to support and rally behind," said Sasekani Manzini, a spokesman for the African National Congress in Mpumalanga province. She said she supports Dlamini-Zuma but "we want to see a united ANC."

Nationwide, access to state enterprises has been the reward for Zuma's allies, including friends with few professional skills and the Guptas, a wealthy family who have acquired widespread business interests.

State enterprises, through the awarding of contracts, or tenders, have created an entire class of African National Congress loyalists sometimes derided as "tenderpreneurs."

The corruption allegations have battered the image of the African National Congress -- Africa's oldest liberation movement, celebrating its 105th anniversary this year. It led the fight against the system of white minority rule known as apartheid and has governed South Africa since the first democratic elections in 1994.

"There is nothing exceptional in what has happened to the African National Congress because it is the path that all African liberation parties have taken," said Ralph Mathekga, a political analyst. "It has failed to modernize from liberation politics to managing a complex modern society.

"People personalize it to say it's all about Zuma, but every post-liberation African society risks having a Mobutu," he said, referring to Mobutu Sese Seko, the notoriously corrupt former ruler of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. "What makes this different is that people's expectations of the ANC were higher because it was a latecomer and because of Mandela."

Neither of the most likely replacements for Zuma has inspired people the way Mandela or other past leaders have.

"For people in my generation, we grew up in the anti-apartheid struggle," said Owei Lakemfa, a veteran labor activist in Nigeria, where many African National Congress leaders sought refuge before the end of apartheid. "The ANC held a lot of promise for us then. Now, it does not."

Information for this article was contributed by Krista Mahr of The Associated Press and by Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times.

A Section on 12/17/2017

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