Mr Zuma, 67, whose party won a landslide victory in elections last
month, will be inaugurated at a special ceremony in the capital
Pretoria on Saturday. Until then, the country remains in the hands of
caretaker President Motlanthe.
Yesterday's endorsement by 277 members of the 400-seat parliament was a
foregone conclusion, but nevertheless represented a sweet moment for
the former Zulu goat-herder turned liberation struggle commander who
was fired as deputy president by former President Mbeki four years ago
after he was accused of involvement in an arms scandal.
Declaring himself humbled and overwhelmed by the honour, Mr Zuma, who
served 10 years on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, accepted the
post with a conciliatory speech in which he reached out to opposition
parties and assured the country his priority would be to protect jobs
and boost the economy – a constant theme in his election campaign.
I hope to lead the country on a path of friendship, co-operation, harmony, unity and faster change, he said.
Mr Zuma, who was formally proposed by Mr Mandela's former wife, Winnie
Madikizela-Mandela, one of his closest allies, weathered the corruption
scandal and was acquitted in a separate rape trial, which his
supporters said was politically motivated, before triumphing over Mr
Mbeki in a bitter internal ANC row which split the movement and spawned
its first major breakaway group for several decades.
Pius Langa, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, who presided
over proceedings at the newly elected parliament in Cape Town, said: I
accordingly declare that Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is duly elected
President of the Republic of South Africa. I have the honour of
congratulating you on your election as President.
The chamber, dominated by the ANC but including more opposition MPs
than at any time since the end of apartheid in 1994, burst into
applause and chants of Zuma, Zuma.
Mr Zuma will officially name his cabinet on Sunday shortly after a huge
inauguration celebration, due to be attended by several fellow African
heads of state, comes to an end. Widespread leaks have already tried to
assure jittery investors that the country will not lurch to the left
under the populist politician, endorsed by the trade unions and adored
by the poor. Unlike the aloof Mr Mbeki, the President-elect connects
instantly with both the township and rural poor, but has also made
overtures to other groups, such as whites and Asians, which felt
marginalised under the previous administration.
Mr Zuma is expected to give a senior economic position to Trevor
Manuel, the Finance Minister, who was widely credited with pragmatic
policies which allowed the Mbeki government to oversee the longest
economic growth ever witnessed by the country. That came to an end with
the worldwide financial crisis and country is now formally in recession
with unemployment – officially at 23.5 percent but in reality much
higher – once again mounting.
The Mbeki era, while creating a black middle class, failed to deliver a
better life for the poorest and stoked resentment against the ANC elite
– a sentiment which Mr Zuma skilfully exploited in his long battle with
his former boss.
In his address, Mr Zuma promised to speed up progress on education,
health and land reform, and increase resources for a losing government
fight against crime.
We mean business when we talk about faster change, he vowed.
The ANC won the elections on April 22 with 65.9 percent of the vote,
giving it slightly less than the two-thirds of parliamentary seats
required to change the Constitution.
The Times (UK)
Post published in: News