South Africa: not civil war but sad decay

Rian Malan

11 October 2006

Rian Malan, acclaimed author of My Traitor’s Heart, says that the rise of Jacob Zuma as a serious presidential contender is a terrible symbol of his country’s inexorable decline into disorder, political corruption and maladministration

Zuma is a Zulu, and when he became a target for criminal investigation, many fellow tribesmen suspected he was being stitched up by President Mbeki, who was reputedly keen to eliminate him as a potential successor. Conspiracists noted that Mbeki was a Xhosa, and that various members of what we call the ‘Xhosa nostra’ had become billionaires as a result of their political connections, whereas Zuma’s allegedly improper payments were limited to a trifling £100,000. They found it even more fishy that the sad and desperate young woman who invited herself to spend a night in Zuma’s home, only to accuse him of rape in the aftermath, was acquainted with the minister of intelligence Ronnie Kasrils, a KGB-trained master of the dark arts of espionage, presumably including honey traps.

Zulus are a warlike bunch, as we know, and the Zuma affair got their blood up. Thousands turned out to cheer their homeboy at his rape trial, and to denounce his accuser as a harlot bribed to bear false witness. Zuma’s acquittal sparked riotous celebrations, and when his corruption trial started last month the crowds were even larger. ‘100% Zulu Boy’ T-shirts were still evident, but now there were red flags too, because radicals had started rallying to the Zuma cause. First to join were the young lions of the ANC Youth League. They were followed by the Young Communists, then by large sectors of the trade union movement and the Communist party proper. All that remained was for Winnie Mandela to take sides, and lo: when the judge dismissed Zuma’s corruption charges in late September, she materialised among the jubilant masses, praising the Lord for answering her prayers.