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In defence of Jacob Zuma
No one I spoke to in Cape Town a couple of weeks ago had a good word to say for him. Richard Dowden bucks the trend, sort of, in the Times.
Not sure I'm convinced, frankly, but I'm willing to grasp at straws.Mr Zuma is a pragmatist, not an ideologue. His worst failing is his most attractive characteristic: he likes to tell people what they want to hear... His political skills have been in evidence in his KwaZulu homeland. Here he was quietly instrumental in ending the virtual civil war that preceded the 1994 election between the ANC and the Zulu tribal movement, Inkatha. Those skills have also been visible in other parts of Africa...As for those who see something sinister in Mr Zuma's animal skins and feathers and a song that praises violence, they should look no further than the uniforms of our own monarch's bodyguard; bearskins (the Guards) and yak hair and feathers (the Household Cavalry). And of course the sixth verse of our national anthem, which sings of crushing the rebellious Scots.
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