In May, Zuma said to his supporters that the ANC will stay united and strong because the party is "even blessed in Heaven. That is why we will rule until Jesus comes back."
Jacob Zuma, the man who will probably become the president of South Africa next year, was acquitted of rape in 2006, but admitted to having unprotected sex with his HIV-positive accuser.
Zuma, who before the rape trial headed the South African National AIDS Council, said in court that he took a shower to minimize the risk of infection. He claimed that he could tell by the way a woman sat whether she wanted to have sex with him and that his Zulu culture demanded he should oblige her.
In a stunning comeback that surprised many, Zuma won party's contest in last December to become the ANC leader. Last month, a South African court dropped sixteen charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud, and racketeering against Jacob Zuma, thus clearing the way for him to be elected South Africa's president in 2009.
When, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela came out in 1994 and began spreading the message of peace, reconciliation, and hope, he dreamed about building a society in which all South Africans would live in freedom, peace, harmony, and prosperity.
But today the country is still facing numerous problems. Millions still live in shacks and informal settlements, without jobs, education, electricity, water, and hope. About 12% of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS. South Africa is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and has the highest rate of rape in the world.
If all this were not enough, the country is now facing unprecedented political crisis of the ruling party.
Many in South Africa fear that the country could experience large-scale violence between the feuding ANC factions, especially during the upcoming campaign for the general elections scheduled for April 2009.
The ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has already said that he was prepared to kill for Jacob Zuma.
We will have to wait and see if reason will prevail in South Africa or if the country will become yet another autocratic and failed state, like many on the African continent.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Find yourself another country to live in, Savo - like Australia or New Zealand. South Africa is finally headed for the violence that Mandela managed to avoid.
Whites won't be safe in an atmosphere of black civil war, and that is what you seem to be describing. The coracle that could have been a peaceful country is headed for the falls of a civil war.
And don't expect anybody else on Blogcritics to give a damn about South Africa - not Zedd, not Adam Ash - nobody.
2 - Rev Zakade
The ANC the Nation by introducing satanic laws that allow rights for people who are driven by demonic spirits. and as churches we forced to bless their marriages.