TODAY'S NEWSPAPER
Subscribe | PostPoints

SEARCH:

| Search Archives

washingtonpost.com > Photo

In Focus: S. African Elections

Ruling party leader Jacob Zuma is expected to clinch the nation's presidency on April 22, 2009, but the African National Congress faces its greatest challenge since apartheid ended in 1994.

The African National Congress is expected to maintain its dominance in parliamentary elections, and its president typically becomes president of the country. ANC leader Jacob Zuma, pictured on supporters' campaign posters, has strong support from South Africa's unions and the Communist Party, which decry economic policies they say have benefited few.

Schalk Van Zuydam-AP

ANC President Jacob Zuma dances at an election rally in Khayelitsha township. Throughout its history, the ANC has been a political hodgepodge of communists, unionists, intellectuals and capitalists. In recent years, fissures within the ANC party leadership began to form. At their simplest, they boiled down to a split between those loyal to ousted South African president Thabo Mbeki, an aloof economist, and Zuma, a charismatic populist who has been battling corruption charges for years.

Mike Hutchings-Reuters

After a bitter battle, Zuma wrested control of the ANC from Mbeki at a party conference in December 2007. A splinter group of Mbeki supporters has since formed a new party to challenge the ANC, which won national elections in 2004 with nearly 70 percent of the vote. Here, Mbeki supporters attend a rally in the Eastern Cape.

Gianluigi Guercia-AFP/Getty Images

Capetown's Green Point Stadium is currently under construction ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Economists warned against the costs of hosting the World Cup in a country with overtaxed schools and medical systems. Such concerns give ammunition to ANC's challengers, the breakaway Congress of the People, who are tapping into growing public frustration with corruption, poor services and widespread poverty and crime.

Duif du Toit, Gallo Images-Getty Images

Though an ANC victory in spring elections is nearly ensured, surveys also show that public confidence in the ANC is waning as worries grow about the future of South Africa, where crime and poverty rates remain stubbornly high, and schools produce few skilled workers.

Siphiwe Sibeko-Reuters

Zuma's promises to crack down on government corruption drew a pointed response from South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. Zuma "must answer these charges in court, and, if he is to honor the undertaking in the ANC's manifesto to step up the fight against corruption in its ranks, he should renounce his candidature for the presidency," said Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, pictured.

Nadine Hutton-Bloomberg News

New breakaway political party Congress of the People, or COPE, could wipe away the ANC's two-thirds majority, analysts say, and by allying with other small parties -- which profess delight about the split -- it could provide the first real opposition to the ANC. Never before, though, has an opposition party been stacked with so many well-known former ANC figures.

Nadine Hutton-Bloomberg News

Although it is sub-Saharan Africa's most developed country, South Africa is racing before the 2010 World Cup to build and update 10 stadiums -- such as Soccer City in Johannesburg, pictured -- modernize its inefficient public transportation system, convert homes into bed-and-breakfasts and hire thousands of police officers to keep more than 400,000 foreign soccer fans safe in a crime-plagued nation where 50 people are murdered each day.

Themba Hadebe-AP

A Soweto family watches South African President Thabo Mbeki on TV addressing South Africans after he resigned on Sept. 21, 2008. The ANC forced Mbeki to step down as South Africa's president after a court ruling suggested that he had pressured prosecutors to charge Zuma with graft. Mbeki, an aloof and scholarly former deputy president, succeeded his boss, freedom icon Nelson Mandela, in 1999.

Alexander Joe-AFP/Getty Images

Mbeki, right, celebrates the ANC's 95th anniversary with Zuma in Witbank, South Africa, Jan. 13, 2007. The recent political drama surrounding Zuma seemed only to boost his popularity; Zuma's impoverished, rural roots earned him the adoration of South Africa's poor and working classes. Zuma, a former freedom fighter who was also exiled, offers a stark contrast to Mbeki: Unfailingly charismatic and approachable, he had little formal education and often speaks in Zulu, a language spoken by a quarter of South Africans.

Siphiwe Sibeko-Reuters

In January 2009, a court cleared the way for a corruption case against ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, center. The Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court had erred in its September 2008 decision to dismiss graft charges against Zuma on a technicality. Zuma faced 16 counts of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering stemming from a multibillion-dollar arms deal. But prosecutors dropped the charges on April 6, saying the case had been manipulated for political reasons.

Nic Bothma-AFP/Getty Images

Kgalema Motlanthe, addressing parliament in February 2009, is a former union leader and political prisoner, and became South Africa's caretaker president in September 2008. While Motlanthe's role was officially temporary, analysts said he would be expected to reassure a shaken public and jittery investors.

Gianluigi Guercia -Pool-Reuters

South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, in white, launched her party's election campaign for the April 2009 general elections in the township of Soweto on Jan. 31, 2009. Zille expressed confidence in her party's ability to win key victories in what has been billed as South Africa's most exciting poll since the advent of democracy in 1994.

AFP/Getty Images

Former South African defense minister Mosiuoa Lekota, center, dances on stage after being elected leader of the country's new COPE party at its conference in Bloemfontein, Dec. 16, 2008. COPE's leaders vowed to chart a course of freer debate and more respectable leadership than in the party they had abandoned.

Rian Horn-Reuters

Despite violence against immigrant communities in South Africa, thousands of Zimbabweans flooded over the border to escape economic strife and political oppression in their own country. Here, Zimbabwean immigrants cross the border into South Africa, May 27, 2008 over the Limpopo River near Musina.

John Moore-Getty Images

In May 2008, waves of immigrants crossed illegally into South Africa from Zimbabwe, despite the xenophobic violence against immigrants. Critics said South Africa should openly condemn Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe or try to bring down his regime by cutting off supplies of electricity, fuel and food to Zimbabwe.

John Moore-Getty Images

Displaced foreign nationals wash and drink at a United Nations High Commission for Refugees camp at Rand Airport on the outskirts of Johannesburg, where hundreds sought shelter after the xenophobic violence erupted in May 2008. Some 30,000 immigrants displaced in the violence, which killed more than 60, live in camps.

Gianluigi Guercia-AFP/Getty Images

Many young South Africans bemoan the ANC's failure to control galling poverty and the AIDS, crime and unemployment rates, and said the party has grown bloated by power. Here, a health worker assists a patient at the Holy Cross AIDS Hospice center near Emoyeni, in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province, Oct. 26, 2006.

Mike Hutchings-Reuters

As president, Mbeki came under attack for prolonged neglect of rampant violent crime and a glaring AIDS epidemic and for stifling dissent. Internationally, he earned ignominy for questioning the cause of AIDS and for refusing to join other world leaders in condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's brutal and ruinous rule.

Brent Stirton-Getty Images

Outside South Africa, ousted president Thabo Mbeki is credited with advocating African issues on the world stage and with successfully negotiating peace resolutions in Congo, Sudan and, most recently, Zimbabwe. Yet Mbeki's policies failed to create jobs or end desperate poverty in cities like Alexandra, pictured, causing many in his party to lose faith in him.

Alexander Joe-AFP/Getty Images

In Africa's biggest economy, growth was slowing even before the heavy impact of the global financial crisis. Under Mbeki's free-market policies, South Africa's economy maintained a steady growth rate, and a black middle class emerged.

Alexander Joe-AFP/Getty Images

Miners work underground at the Harmony Goldmine, near Carletonville. Laying out its priorities for the next five years in an "elections manifesto," the ANC pledged to significantly boost state spending on health care, education, job creation and rural development, though it did not specify how it would pay for the investments.

Themba Hadebe-AP

Zuma also faced rape charges, but was acquitted in May 2006 of rape charges in a trial in which he testified that he had had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman and then showered to prevent infection.

Reuters

In part of the political drama surrounding Zuma, then-president Mbeki fired Zuma as the nation's deputy president in 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of soliciting bribes from an arms dealer. Zuma also was charged that year, but the case was dismissed, delighting his supporters.

Mike Hutchings-Reuters

In September 2008, a South African judge dismissed corruption charges against ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, center, who faced 16 counts of fraud, racketeering, corruption and money laundering relating to a multimillion-dollar arms deal. The ruling did not assess Zuma's guilt or innocence in the arms deal but upheld his claim that government prosecutors should have consulted him before charging him for a second time in December 2007.

Dennis Farrell-AP

Gallery Credits:
Producer, Photo Editor Stephen Cook Text Editor Heather Farrell Reporter Karin Bruilliard

Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content.

This Story S. Africa Prosecutors Drop Case Against Leader of Ruling Party Article \| JOHANNESBURG, April 6 -- South African prosecutors said Monday they are dropping corruption charges against ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, ending a long legal saga just two weeks before national elections that are expected to deliver him the presidency. In Focus: S. African Elections This Story White Afrikaners In S. Africa Hear Inclusive Voice From ANC Leader Article \| PRETORIA, South Africa -- A white pastor spoke of the "tremendous amount of hurt" his fellow Afrikaners feel in black-ruled South Africa. A man complained that racial quotas keep white children off school sports teams. Another fretted about dwindling education in Afrikaans, the language of Afrika... In Focus: S. African Elections This Story Beset by Troubles, S. Africa's Voters Are Divided Over Zuma Article \| JOHANNESBURG -- One week before this country's fourth democratic elections, South Africa's main opposition party has unveiled a last-ditch campaign slogan that minces no words: "Stop Zuma." In South Africa, an Age of Idealism Ends In Focus: S. African Elections This Story Mandela Gives ANC's Zuma A Powerful Stamp of Approval Article \| JOHANNESBURG, April 19 -- Pollsters and analysts predict a clean sweep for the ruling African National Congress when this nation goes to the polls on Wednesday. But just in case, the party pulled out an electoral trump card at a massive rally Sunday: Nelson Mandela. In Focus: S. African Elections This Story Supporters of South Africa's Zuma celebrate Article \| PRETORIA, South Africa -- South Africa's long-dominant governing party was racing against itself Friday, leaving its opponents far behind and closing in on its goal of doing as well or better than in the last elections. The African National Congress swept the first post-apartheid election in 1994... In Focus: S. African Elections This Story In South Africa, Talk of a One-Party State Article \| THEMBELIHLE, South Africa -- Fifteen years into democracy, Peter Dlhamini still lives in a shack on land that is not his, where the toilet is a pit in the ground and the television is not plugged into an outlet -- there is none -- but hooked up to a generator. In Focus: S. African Elections This Story ANC Looks for Big Win in South African Vote Video \| South Africans lined up before sunrise Wednesday to vote in an election energized by the hugely popular Jacob Zuma. Video by AP South Africans Head to Polls In Focus: S. African Elections		TOOLBOX E-Mail This Save/Share + Digg Facebook Reddit Twitter myspace del.icio.us NewsTrust Stumble It! COMMENT 0 Comments Your browser's settings may be preventing you from commenting on and viewing comments about this item. See instructions for fixing the problem. Discussion Policy CLOSE Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post. Who's Blogging » Links to this gallery		More on washingtonpost.com • More Photo News » washingtonpost.com
» This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments » This Story:Read +\|Watch +\| Comments

Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Rentals | Classifieds

SEARCH:

Search Archives

The Washington Post Company: Information and Other Post Co. Websites

Help | Contact Us