the corner office

Jacob Zuma was voted president of the ANC today and the actual president of the country, Thabo Mbeki, basically got told to get stuffed by his own party. A great many people have said that if Zuma came to power that would be the end for South Africa, and today may yet be marked as a milestone on a slow road to Zimbabwefication. Then again, maybe not. I don't know.

The reality is that the country's leading party decided to vote a crook into power. A moronic crook who thought that having a shower after having sex with an HIV-infected woman would prevent him from being infected. A moronic crook, democratically elected. It's hard to feel positive about a country where such a thing can happen. But you don't see things quite the same way as affluent middle class whites and blacks when you're jobless, constantly hungry and struggling and not seeing your life get any better 13 years after the end of apartheid rule.

Farrel Lifson has a good overview of it all. The reality is that Mbeki himself is the primary architect for any Zimbabwefication South Africa has gone through. He's been a joke, his AIDS and health and diplomatic policies an embarassment, and he's not even managed to keep his constituents happy. Zuma is popular because people believe he's of the people and that he'll change things. He won't - but truth is, he might not flush the country any faster down the toilet than Mbeki's done - sure, he'll pander to interest groups and spew out rhetoric, but chances are he'll allow himself to be paid off by vested corporate interests, and the country will plod along mostly poor, crime-ridden, AIDS-riddled, and full of wasted potential, just like it is now.

The sad thing is that a day like today makes it very stark that that would be considered a relatively good outcome, all things considered.