Delegates begin voting in ANC leadership contest

Delegates of South Africa’s governing African National Congress cast their votes today for the next party president after a bitter contest.

Deputy President Jacob Zuma was expected to win in a remarkable political comeback from corruption and rape scandals, defeating incumbent President Thabo Mbeki and moving into position to become president of South Africa at elections in 2009.

“The reality is that the tsunami is unstoppable,” Zuma supporter Jappie Mateis said after voting, referring to the tidal wave of support for his candidate popularly called the “Zunami.”

Mr Mbeki supporters, though, waved three fingers to indicate they wanted him to have a third term as they stood outside the voting station at the university library in Polokwane.

“We are confident. We’ve done our numbers and we are going to win,” said Thami Ntshawuzana, who is from Mr Mbeki’s Eastern Cape stronghold, glossing over the public rejection endured by Mr Mbeki and his allies at the hands of Zuma supporters since the start of the conference on Sunday.

If Mr Zuma wins, he would be in line to be the party’s candidate for president of the country in the 2009 elections. The ANC candidate would likely win, given the party’s wide support.

Mr Mbeki is barred by the constitution from seeking a third term as president of Africa’s political and economic powerhouse. But remaining at the helm of the ANC would give him a say in who succeeds him and in the policies his successor adopts.

It was unclear when the counting of the votes by the 3,900 delegates would be complete.

The ANC Youth League – a key Zuma ally – demanded that the votes be counted manually instead of electronically, reflecting the mistrust and divisions within the party.

Mr Mbeki has guided the party and the country during South Africa’s sustained economic growth of the past few years. But he now seems to be paying the price for the fact that the fruits of the boom haven’t spread to millions who still await houses jobs and services 13 years after the end of apartheid.

Mr Mbeki, 65, is viewed as aloof, academic and uneasy on the campaign trail. He sprinkles his speeches with Shakespeare and spurns sound bites.

Mr Zuma, also 65, is a former guerrilla fighter who had little formal education and portrays himself as a man of the people. He spent many months building his support among the ANC rank and file and the trade union movement, but also reached out to religious groups, white Afrikaners and the business community in the final weeks of campaigning.

Mr Zuma has insisted that he will not radically change the economic agenda for fear of scaring off foreign as well as domestic investors. He has called for Aids and crime to be “treated as national emergencies,” something many South Africans have criticised Mr Mbeki for not doing.

On foreign policy, Mr Zuma has challenged Mr Mbeki for insisting on quiet diplomacy over confrontation with neighbouring Zimbabwe, where the autocratic Robert Mugabe is accused of ruining the economy, undermining democracy, and thereby threatening the region’s stability.

Mr Mbeki fired Mr Zuma as the country’s deputy president in 2005 after Mr Zuma’s financial adviser was convicted of trying to elicit a €48,000 bribe for Mr Zuma to deflect investigations into an arms deal. Charges were withdrawn against Mr Zuma but the National Prosecuting Authority has indicated it may revive them.

Last year, Mr Zuma was acquitted of raping a family friend. During the trial, he testified that he had unprotected, consensual sex with the HIV-positive woman and then took a shower in the belief that it would protect him from the Aids virus.

His supporters have accused the Mbeki camp and the media of unfairly vilifying Zuma.

“He is innocent until proven guilty,” said Sihle Mbili of the corruption cloud that still hangs over Zuma’s head.