The ANC Leadership ...

This post is really a comment to Sara's excellent blog post and an extension of my earlier comment to Marco's post.

Firstly, Zuma's election as the leader of the ANC is not a surprise. But, I don't think it is a surprise because it is Zuma that won the position, but because, Mbeki was doomed to fail in his bid for re-election. The fact of the matter is, Mbeki, as much as I like the man, is not a great leader. In fact, as my high school English teacher often commented, Shakespeare has a lot of modern day applicability; and here - this is the classic case of Brutus vs Anthony.

On one corner, we have Mbeki - the intellectual, a man of effectively royalty (Govan Mbeki was after all a defendant at the Rivonia trial) and a man of strong beliefs; i.e. Brutus. While he is well respected for his intellectual prowess, he is not really understood by the common man - and he is in fact very much removed from the concerns of the common man. Mbeki (and for that matter Brutus) may have concerns for the common man, but they are so out of touch with the common man, that they cannot really communicate their plans effectively.

On the other corner, we have Zuma - a man of the people, a man who led the wars from the front line, a man who is not dumb by any means - but certainly not an intellectual i.e. Anthony. He understands the common man on the street - he identifies with them, can speak to them and can listen to them. And because he speaks the same language as the common man, he is more popular with the common man.

And it is no surprise Zuma won - Mbeki might have the respect of the common man, but Zuma has the love of teh common man, and often the rational decision is ruled over by the heart.

But to be honest, I don't think neither Zuma nor Mbeki are good leaders. The fact is, the leadership race was not dictated by policies or visions - but personalities. Mbeki did not seem to give any vision of what it would mean to have him for another 3 years. The fact is, neither did Zuma. What does it mean now that Zuma has won? Will he move towards more social spending? Will he make ARV drugs freely available everywhere? Will he push for a stronger or weaker Rand? Will he pursue peace in other African countries?

The problem with modern democracies is that, more often than not, it is being decided by personalities and not really policies. The fact is, true political parties with really divergent policies are becoming rare.

And more worrying in my opinion ... we no longer know what a government's mandate is. COSATU wants the government to make more jobs. The homeless want free housing. Sportsmen want financial support. In my opinion, the purpose of what a government is there to do has become blurred and almost non existent. And it requires leadership to fix this ... and I don't think Zuma is the man to do the job. But neither is Mbeki.