Zuma will purge those he dislikes - but what did you expect?

He wants to review the status of the Constitutional Court (which has several times found against him), “because I don’t think we should have people who are almost like God in a democracy.” He loathes the press, which has certainly not been kind, slamming a “vicious media campaign designed to find me guilty in the court of public opinion”. His talk of rooting out the “lazy, corrupt and incompetent” from government sometimes suggests a purge of those he dislikes. - Economist.com

SHOOT: When you elect someone of questionable morals, and questionable honesty into the highest office in the country, don't expect him to make an honest effort to take care of anyone else besides his cronies. Lessons from our neighbours ought to have been clear on that, but perhaps food parcels are more effective than any other form of campaigning, something the opposition might want to consider. My opinion is that whichever government comes into power will be booed as useless in 12 - 18 months, when unemployment will have risen to dire, even critical levels (30%, 40%).

clipped from www.economist.com Many Africans are nevertheless deeply worried about what might happen to the country under a President Zuma and an all-powerful, perhaps even vengeful, ANC. Many now share the “disillusionment, resentment and rage tinged with despair”, of which André Brink, an Afrikaans author and former anti-apartheid campaigner, writes in his recent memoir. Since the ANC first came to power in 1994 an estimated 800,000 whites have left the country, taking their skills with them; 4.5m, representing 9% of the population, remain. Crime has certainly played a part: though figures are hard to compare, South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates. But the dominance of the ANC has also been a powerful factor. Whites are not alone in their pessimism. “We are in a bad place at the moment in this country,” laments Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a liberation hero turned government scourge. The manner in which Mr Zuma’s eight-year tussle with the courts was brought to an end has shocked South Africans.