ZUMA ROMPS HOME

by RAY FLEMING
AS expected the African National Party has won the South African election handsomely but failed by a whisker to get the two-thirds majority it has had in previous years. The slight fall in its share of the votes is probably attributable to the new ANC splinter group Congress of the People (Cope) which got 7.4 percent of the votes cast and also to the strong show made by the Democratic Alliance which won the Western Cape province and in doing so became the only province not governed by the ANC. Cope had been expected to do better but was beset by lack of funds, internal squabbling and the last-minute choice of Bishop Mvume Dandales, a political unknown, for the presidency. The Democratic Alliance's success rested on white middle-class and mixed-race support as well as on the vigorous campaign led by Helen Zille who is also Mayor of Cape Town. The significance of the less than two-thirds share of vote for the ANC is that it will be unable on its own to amend the South African constitution, should it wish to do so; Jacob Zuma, the party's charismatic leader has insisted that he has no such intention but even so the judicial, media and business communities in the country will be relieved that he cannot be tempted. More positively, it should be said that Zuma has been a close supporter of Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe and will probably buttress his position in relation to Robert Mugabe.