Jacob Zuma sworn in as South African president

Zuma vows reconciliation in inaugural speech

AFP –

PRETORIA (AFP) –

New South African President Jacob Zuma seized the legacy of reconciliation laid down by icon Nelson Mandela, vowing in his inaugural speech Saturday to defend democracy and reunite the country after years of divisive politics.

Zuma took office in a glitzy ceremony that capped a dramatic political comeback after his ascent to power was nearly derailed by corruption claims and bitter in-fighting within the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

His fierce rivalry with former president Thabo Mbeki, Mandela's immediate heir, sparked a dramatic power struggle within the party. Zuma ultimately took control in December 2007 and pushed the ANC to sack Mbeki as head of state nine months later, provoking a breakaway from the former liberation movement.

Despite the dissent, he led the party to a thumping victory in general elections on April 22. With Mandela and Mbeki on hand for his swearing-in Saturday, Zuma promised to keep South Africa on a path of reconciliation and to remain open to divergent views.

"He made reconciliation the central theme of his term of office. We will not deviate from that nation building task. Thank you Mandiba for showing us the way," Zuma said, affectionately referring to Mandela by his clan name.

"We must forge a partnership for reconstruction, development and progress. In this partnership there is a place for all South Africans, black and white," he said.

Zuma also made a defence of democracy, political freedoms and free speech as he stood before nearly 30 visiting leaders, including Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and King Mswati III of Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarch.

"We must safeguard the indepenedence and integrity of those institutions tasked with the defence of democracy and must act as a check on the abuse of power," he said.

Zuma was accompanied to the stage by the first of his three current wives, Sizakele Khumalo, and after his official speech he went down to the lawns to address the 36,000 cheering supporters who gathered to witness his swearing-in.

The 67-year-old Zuma was elected president by parliament, after the ANC swept to victory in general elections two weeks ago, despite frustrations at poor public services after 15 years as the ruling party.

Zuma has vowed to get straight down to work with a cabinet he will unveil on Sunday to tackle his pledges for rapid improvements to education, unemployment and the alarming crime situation.

He has also promised to work quickly to boost limping public services while bolstering the economy against a looming recession.

Speculation has been rife over whom he will appoint to his cabinet, after his predecessor Mbeki was criticised for keeping on lacklustre ministers.

He also faces pressure from leftist backers who supported him throughout an eight-year prosecution for corruption, but has warned that posts will not necessarily be kept for friends.

Portfolios being closely watched are: finance, with the popular Trevor Manuel tipped for a cabinet redeployment; health, a one-time fiasco of AIDS denialism, only recently revived under Barbara Hogan; and education, which is likely to be split in two.

A polygamist with 19 children and a murky history with the courts, Zuma embraces his Zulu tradition with a passion that has proved unnerving to some at home and abroad.

He only narrowly dodged a corruption trial when prosecutors dropped the charges charges against him just weeks before the elections.

But his supporters were deterred by neither his legal troubles nor the wintry rains that cleared just before the ceremony began,

"I came all the way from KwaZulu Natal to be part of this event, I wouldn't miss it for the world," said an elated Sipho Zondi who travelled from Zuma's home province with six friends by train.

"Rain is a sign of good luck, in African culture when it rains during your ceremony it means thing are going to go well for you. So in this case it means Zuma is going to have a good term in office."

South Africa: Zuma's Home Province Saves ANC

John Allen
All Africa, 25 April 2009

Cape Town —

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has won South Africa's national election with a slightly reduced majority, narrowly failing to  achieve the two-thirds majority that would enable it to change the  country's Constitution unilaterally.

Sofia Tosolari/AllAfrica
ANC Supporters
Although the party lost votes across the board in most provinces, the  losses were largely offset by a dramatic leap in support in  KwaZulu-Natal, home province of the ANC's leader, Jacob Zuma - at the expense of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
 
But in the Western Cape, centred on Cape Town, the ANC suffered as calamitous a setback as did the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal, losing control of  the province to the official opposition, the Democratic Party.
 
The formal announcement of the election results was made by Hlophe Bam, the chair of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), on Saturday afternoon, South African time.
 
Figures released by the IEC showed that 77 percent of South Africa's 23.1 million voters went to the polls, and that 11.6 million (65.9 percent) of them voted for the ANC. In the 2004 elections, the ANC's majority was close to 70 percent.
 
Although the party lost its two-thirds majority, Zuma made it clear on the eve of the election that the party in any event had no plans to change the Constitution.
 
The second-placed party in the national election was the official opposition in the last Parliament, the Democratic Alliance, which drew 2.9 million votes, improving its share of the total from 12.4 to 16.7 percent.
 
But it is likely that the party most responsible for taking votes away from the ANC outside KwaZulu-Natal was the Congress of the People (COPE),  launched last December by ANC leaders unhappy with the direction the party was taking under Zuma. COPE pulled 1.3 million votes (7.4 percent), giving it third place nationally.
 
In the provinces, the ANC improved its performance in KwaZulu-Natal by a massive 17 percentage points, boosting its share of the vote from 47 percent in 2004 to 64 percent. The IFP's support plunged from 37 percent to 21 percent.
 
In the Western Cape, the DA's support surged from 27 percent to 49 percent. The ANC's share dropped from 45 percent to 33 percent, reflecting the consequences of ANC infighting and the migration away from the party of voters classified under apartheid as "Coloured" (mostly people of mixed heritage or Malay origin).
 
The DA is set to become the official opposition to the ANC in four of  South Africa's nine provinces. COPE will become the official opposition in three provinces.
 
Despite the DA's inroads in Coloured communities, it is still seen by most South Africans as representing the interests of privileged, mostly white South Africans. Its support base among whites is reflected in its relatively higher support in the metropolitan areas where most whites live, such as Gauteng -incorporating Johannesburg and Pretoria - where it achieved 21 percent of the vote.
 
COPE hoped to win more than its seven percent share. It nevertheless presents the ANC with the biggest opposition grouping since the advent of democracy in 1994 which comes from within the forces which led the liberation struggle.

South Africa's Zuma cabinet expected this weekend

2009-05-06 19:07:27  

    JOHANNESBURG, May 6 (Xinhua) --

South African President-in-waiting Jacob Zuma is expected to announce his cabinet soon after his inauguration as president this weekend.

    "The President is expected to appoint and announce his new Cabinet by 10 May 2009," government spokesman Themba Maseko said on Wednesday.

    The newly appointed Cabinet members would be sworn in as ministers and deputy ministers on Monday, May 11 in Pretoria.

    Maseko said preparations for Zuma's inauguration are proceeding according to plan and about 5000 dignitaries are expected to attend the ceremony at the Union Buildings on Saturday.

    About 30,000 people are expected to attend and witness the inauguration at the South Lawns of the Union Buildings, he said.

    Zuma will be elected by members of the National Assembly on Wednesday and will be President-elect until he is sworn in.

    Maseko said President Kgalema Motlanthe would remain President of the Republic until the new president assumed office on Saturday.

    In terms of Section 87 of the Constitution, the president could not be a Member of Parliament and it is for this reason that Motlanthe would not be sworn in as a MP along with all other new members on Wednesday.

    The term of office of the outgoing Cabinet would also come to an end when the newly elected president assumed office.

Editor: Wang Guanqun