Zuma's presidency is marred with corruption
The African National Congress (ANC) which has been ruling the country since 1994 after the fall of the Apartheid Rule is in deep trouble and may soon lose its hold over South Africa. The party which had the history of such world class charismatic leaders like Nelson Mandela who ruled as the President of the country from 1994-1999, is fast facing unbelievable electoral defeats in the hands of the upcoming political parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA). The recently concluded local Government elections across the country had seen a sharp fall of the vote share of the ANC from 63 per cent in 2011 to 52 per cent this year. The opposition party, the DA, appeared to track to boost its support from 24 per cent in 2011 to above 30 per cent in 2016 local election. Even for a much younger leader like Mmusi Maimane, the first black leader to head a party, which was seen mostly as a white party till recently, it is a giant step. And this impressive victory of the DA under his leadership can be regarded as a vote of confidence for him for sure.
The mess in South Africa today was created by the ANC leaders starting from Thabo Mbeki to the current President Jacob Zuma. The ANC which is badly facing a battle for revival and the much-disillusioned young leaders in the party may see no respite from Zuma's old tricks of sticking to power. He is facing a tough battle in office as nearly 800 corruption charges are there against him which is tarnishing the party image both at home and abroad. Shortly before he assumed office for the first time in 2009, the state prosecutors justified dropping 783 charges against him saying tapped phone calls between officials in the outgoing President Mbeki showed undue interference in these cases and there was an attempt to malign the leader. But now a South African Court has over-ruled Zuma's effort to appeal against a ruling that he should face corruption charges over 800 cases. Besides, when the results of the local elections were severely hurting the political fortunes of the ANC, around the same time Zuma was acquitted in a rape trial which was viewed by many women in the country as emblematic of misogyny and rape culture. But the trial may also result in staging a comeback for Zuma. With this Zuma will appear as a gladiator against his arch rival Mbeki. The trial was not about a young woman and her rights in South African society. It was about vanquishing Zuma's enemies: Those who once set him up and painted him as a rapist in order to stop his inevitable rise to power. As he is completing two terms in office in 2019 and attaining 74 years, he is no way eligible for re-election. The country's record unemployment, poor growth rate and a party left with no future, Zuma will soon pass into oblivion.