THE CELL OF NELSON MANDELA
JACOB ZUMA - PRESIDENT ELECT OF SOUTH AFRICA
>“People were behaving strangely'
Anria Minnaar grew up closeted in a white-only community in South Africa. She recalls the election that marked the end of apartheid, and the bewildering tensions in her Afrikaans village as hundreds of black people came together to vote
- The Guardian, Friday 24 April 2009
Growing up in South Africa in the 90s I believed it was normal to live in white-only communities, go to white-only schools and swim in white-only swimming pools. The apartheid system was never explained to children: it was always present, yet no one ever discussed it with us. In fact, at that young age, we weren't even aware that it was a system; it was an everyday occurrence such as going to school or brushing your teeth. It wasn't until I was nine that I became aware that something big was happening around my little Afrikaans village.
Tree-lined Main Street was the village artery that ran from the Afrikaans School and Dutch Reformed Church, past the rugby field to the shop at the end of town. For me this road ended in front of the shop, but actually it ran on, beyond the security offices where my father worked to another place on the outskirts of our village. This place had buildings that I could see from my father's office, but what went on there I did not know. What I did know is that all the black maids and gardeners who worked in our village walked along the Main Street after work every night, and did not return until the morning.
My parents raised me to believe that all people, whether white, black or Indian, were equal. I was not allowed to refer to a black man as "boy", as some other Afrikaans did, or use derogatory terms such as kaffir that were commonplace in Afrikaan homes. My father's greatest wish was that I would grow up independent and with my own opinion about important issues. He was against political extremes and naturally opposed the rightwing views of the apartheid government.
One morning while walking to school, I noticed something new on the street; every tree had a poster on it with a picture of a smiling black man. I had no idea what their purpose was. As the week progressed, other posters, this time of a bald white man,appeared, followed by others with even more unfamiliar faces. It wasn't long before people started vandalising them. Children drew moustaches and glasses and blackened their teeth, but older people wrote swear words and threats on them which I found frightening and bewildering.
One morning a boy who was in the year above me insisted that he must walk with me to school. He said that it wasn't safe for a girl to walk around alone any more. When I asked him what he meant, he replied: "The black terrorists are coming! I heard my father talk about it. Do you know what you must do when the terrorists want to shoot your parents?" he went on. "You must stand in front of your family and say, 'No, shoot me instead.' They won't shoot any of you then."
I wasn't sure what to make of his claims, but there was no doubt that people were behaving strangely. One week I opened my mother's Afrikaans magazine to find an article about a family making serious preparations. The father had turned their farmhouse into a small fortress with bars in front of the windows, barbed wire along the roof and reinforced steel doors. He had filled the house with supplies of tinned food, barrels of water, oil and toilet paper. He claimed to be doing all of this in preparation for the political changes. I wondered if I should suggest to my parents that we too should be doing this, but they seemed so calm.
Not long afterwards, my father came home very amused and told my mother that one man in the village had taken home several large drum containers from the mine to fill with water. He buried them in his back garden; his theory was that when the troubles came "they" would poison our water supplies. Many years later, a friend told me of a girl at the high school nicknamed "blikkieskos" or tinned food; her family had stocked up on so much canned food in 1994 that they were still eating it at the turn of the millennium.
On the last Wednesday of April our teacher gave us the day off school. The day before, the town hall had been cleaned out and tape put up in the dusty car park in what, to my friends and I, looked like a maze. We took great delight in walking up and down along the tape, which led to the entrance of the hall. My father was standing nearby with his colleague from work, discussing the security for the next day. Very late that night my father's colleague came to fetch him at our house. "The sniffer dog has arrived," he said, "but we must be quick. It still needs to go to quite a few other voting stations tonight."
The next morning, I woke up to find both my parents dressed in their Sunday best. My mother was clutching their ID books while my father was putting his gun in its holster on his hip and covering it with his shirt. Finally he turned to me and told me that they were going out for a while, and that I must stay in the house until they came back. He did not want me to go out to visit my friends or even go out into the garden until they came back. He added that if anything strange happened I must call the security offices and stay close to my dog. They left, locking all doors as they went.
As I peeked out through my bedroom window to see where they where going, I saw the most frightening sight that I had ever seen in my young life. My parents were walking towards the town hall, outside which a large crowd was standing - larger than any crowd I've ever seen before, close to 1,000 people. What made it most frightening was that they were all black. Now such a sight would just make me curious about why people were queueing, but although I'd often seen small groups of black men working together in the village, or walking home together, at that time I'd never seen hundreds of black people crowd together. I remember how happy I was when hours later, my parents came back from that large crowd unharmed.
The next few days were a blur, full of news reports on the television showing many long lines of people queuing, talk of record numbers showing up, and interviews with old African men who said they had waited their whole lives for this moment. But the day after, our maid Elsie came in with bad news; her elderly father had fallen over in the crowd, and there were so many people that no one noticed until he was crushed to death. A few nights later they showed the pictures of the men from the posters on the news . My mother asked my father what it meant and he replied that the ANC had won. I asked him: "Pa, what does that mean?" to which he quietly replied: "We will be getting a black president." He seemed a little nervous, but not very. But I struggled to comprehend this big idea. I didn't know any black teachers, office workers or managers and found it hard to imagine a black president.
From then things changed rapidly. At school our teacher explained that we would have to address black people as Mr or Mrs, never "boy" or "girl". The next week she announced we would be getting a new pupil; a girl from the local township. Apprehensively, she asked if any of us would like the girl to sit next to them. I raised my hand. But the boy who sat behind me loudly replied: "No, then I would have to deal with the smell!" It seemed that some children's parents wanted to make sure that their opinions would not die with the old regime.
Today, although the cruel apartheid system which judged people on the body they were born in has collapsed, South Africa still has its share of problems, including Aids, poverty and extremely violent crime. But when I cast my election vote at the High Commission in London last week and saw the crowd filled with South Africans of all races and backgrounds,
I felt the greatest feeling of joy and happiness in knowing that I come from a free and democratic country.
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South African post-apartheid generation votes for the first time
-by David Smith ( The Guardian, Monday 20 April 2009)
The South African national election on Wednesday will be the country's fourth democratic vote, and the first to involve the "post-apartheid generation", as the youngest South Africans eligible to vote were born after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, after 27 years in prison.
More than 23 million people, including 16,000 of the South African diaspora in Britain and elsewhere, have registered to vote in what is being billed as the biggest election in the country's history. Campaigning has taken place in traditional rallies but also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Jacob Zuma's African National Congress (ANC) is certain of another victory but is fighting for every vote in a bid to retain its two-thirds majority, giving it the power to amend the constitution.
For the first time, the ANC faces a challenge from with its own ranks, the breakaway party the Congress of the People (Cope). It was formed in response to "threats to constitutional order emerging from the ANC" and includes some anti-apartheid heroes.
But it is the Democratic Alliance that has the best chance of preventing an ANC clean sweep of all nine provinces. Led by Helen Zille, the popular mayor of Cape Town, the DA is tipped to snatch the Western Cape.
The country has a national assembly of 400 seats and national council of provinces with 90 seats. Election to the national assembly is based on proportional representation, with half of the seats filled from regional party lists and the other half from national party lists. The party with the most seats installs its leader as president.
Crime, jobs, poverty, service delivery and political corruption are the dominant issues. Fifty murders a day take place in South Africa, with rape and robbery also shockingly high. One in five of the workforce is unemployed, according to some estimates, a toll that rises much higher in the poor interior.
There is a small and expanding black middle class but a widening gap between rich and poor. Corruption is reported at all levels of government. Aids takes 1,000 lives a day.
Critics of the ANC argue that, like many liberation movements, it has struggled to make the transition to governing a multi-party democracy. Some are disenchanted by promises not delivered, while millions of young voters have no memory of the struggle against apartheid. But the ANC still enjoys a halo effect from that era.
A poll by Ipsos Markinor suggests it will win a 65% majority. Race is still a factor: 79% of black voters will back the ANC, while the majority of the DA's supporters are white.
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JACOB GEDLEYIHLEKISA ZUMA
President of the ANC
Deputy President of the ANC (since 1997-2007)
Member of ANC NWC, NEC
Former Deputy President in the South African Government (1999-2005)
Jacob Zuma was born on 12 April 1942 in Inkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province.
His father died at the end of World War II, after which his mother took up employment as a domestic worker in Durban. He spent his childhood moving between Zululand and the suburbs of Durban, and by age 15 took on odd jobs to supplement his mother�s income.
Owing to his deprived childhood, Jacob Zuma did not receive any formal schooling. Heavily influenced by a trade unionist family member, he became involved in politics at an early age and joined the African National Congress in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto We Sizwe in 1962, following the banning of the ANC in 1960.
While on his way out of the country in 1963, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in what was then the western Transvaal (now the Northern West Province). Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island.
After his release, Jacob Zuma helped mobilise internal resistance and was instrumental in the re-establishment of ANC underground structures in the then Natal province, (KwaZulu-Natal) between 1973 and 1975.
He left South Africa in 1975 and for the next 12 years, based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique, dealt with thousands of young exiles who poured out of South Africa in the wake of the Soweto uprising.
He lived in several African countries working for the ANC, where he rose rapidly through the ranks to become a member of the ANC National Executive Committee in 1977. He also served as Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, a post he occupied until the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican and South African governments in 1984. After signing the Accord, he was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC and was one of a few who remained in Mozambique to carry out the work of the organisation, crossing in and out of South Africa on a number of occasions.
Jacob Zuma was forced to leave Mozambique in January 1987 after considerable pressure on the Mozambican government by the PW Botha regime. He moved to the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter Chief of the Intelligence Department.
He served on the ANC�s political and military council when it was formed in the mid-80s.
Following the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, he was one of the first ANC leaders to return to South Africa to begin the process of negotiations, and was instrumental in organising the Groote Schuur Minute between the FW de Klerk regime and the ANC that reached important decisions about the return of exiles and the release of political prisoners.
In 1990, at the first Regional Congress of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), he was elected Chairperson of the Southern Natal region and took a leading role in fighting violence in the region. This resulted in a number of Peace Accords involving the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
In 1991, at the first ANC National Conference held in South Africa after the unbanning of the organisation, he was elected the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC.
In January 1994, he was nominated as the ANC candidate for the Premiership of the KZN province. He is generally regarded as the person most instrumental in achieving the peace that is now enjoyed by the people of KZN and in October 1998 he was honoured with the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership in Washington DC, USA.
After the first national democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, Jacob Zuma was appointed as Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) of Economic Affairs and Tourism for the KZN provincial government.
He is also a patron of the KZN Reconstruction and Development Project (RDP) Bursary Fund, which is linked to the RDP section of the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism. He established this bursary fund, using funds that each cabinet member of the KZN province was given to use on any project of their choice. Owing to his rural background and empathy for the poorest of the poor, he decided to use his allocation to help educate poor people in rural areas by establishing the bursary fund. The fund focuses mainly on primary school children in the rural areas but has, from 1999, started assisting students at tertiary institutions. There is currently in excess of 1,000 pupils being assisted at primary level and 10 at tertiary institutions.
In December 1994, Jacob Zuma was elected National Chairperson of the ANC and chairperson of the ANC in KZN. He was re-elected to the latter position in 1996.
He was elected Deputy President of the ANC at the National Conference held at Mafikeng in December 1997.
Jacob Zuma was appointed Executive Deputy President of South Africa in June 1999.
PROFILE OF JACOB ZUMA
Personal
* Date of birth: 12 April 1942, Inkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.
Current Positions
* Executive Deputy President of South Africa (17 June 1999)
* Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly (June 1997)
* Deputy President of the ANC (December 1997)
* Chairperson of the South African National Aids Council
* Chancellor, University of Zululand
* Patron of the Jacob Zuma Bursary Fund (since 1998)
* Patron of the Peace and Reconstruction Foundation
* Patron of the Albert Luthuli Education and Development Foundation
Career/Memberships/Positions/Other Activities
* Heavily influenced by a family member who was a trade unionist, he became involved in politics at an early age.
* Joined the African National Congress (ANC) (1958).
* Became an active member of Umkhonto We Sizwe (1962).
* Whilst on his way out of the country, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in the North West Province.(1963)
* Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on Robben Island. (1963)
* After his release in December 1973, he worked to mobilise internal resistance and was instrumental in the re-establishment of ANC underground structures in the then Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal. (1974-1975)
* Left South Africa in 1975 and for the next 12 years was based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique. During this period he was involved in underground work with President Mbeki and others, giving leadership to the ANC structures operating inside South Africa. He also dealt with the thousands of young exiles that poured out of South Africa in the wake of the Soweto uprising in June 1976
* Lived in several African countries working for the ANC and rose rapidly through the ranks to become a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC (1977)
* Served as Deputy Chief Representative and later Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, until 1984, the year of the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican and South African governments.
* Served on the ANC�s Political-Military Committee and the Political Committee when it was formed in the mid 80�s.
* Appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter, Chief of the Intelligence Department at the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia. (1987)
* Was one of the first ANC leaders to return to South Africa to begin the process of negotiation, following the unbanning of the ANC. (1990)
* Instrumental in organising the Groote-Schuur Minute between the FW de Klerk Government and the ANC that reached important decisions about the return of exiles and the release of political prisoners. (1990)
* Elected Chairperson of the Southern Natal and took a leading role in fighting violence in the region, this resulted in a number of Peace Accords involving the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) (1990)
* Elected the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC during the National Conference held in South Africa after the unbanning of the organisation. (1991)
* Deployed in KwaZulu-Natal because he felt that he had a role to play in bringing about peace and stability in the then highly volatile region. (1994)
* Nominated as the ANC candidate for the Premiership of the KZN Province.(1994)
* Appointed Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) of Economic Affairs and Tourism for the KZN provincial government. (1994)
* Elected National Chairperson of the ANC and Chairperson of the ANC in KZN. (December 1994)
Awards/Decorations/Bursaries
* Honoured with the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership in Washington DC, US. (1998)
* Received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from the University of Fort Hare (2001)
* Received an Honorary Doctorate of Administration from the University of Zululand (2001)
* Received an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from Medical University of Southern Africa (2001)
Source: The Presidency, 12 July 2001
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