The Africa Report — July-August 2017

S

nowfall on the dis-

tant mountains in

Lesotho brought a

veil of rain, turning

the roads in this

KwaZulu-Natal village to mud.

It was the first cold snap of winter,

but the biting weather did not

deter crowds flocking to the local

sports field to see the politician

who could become South Africa’s

first woman president.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was

born in a small settlement a few

kilometres from this village, near

Bulwer in KwaZulu-Natal. Some

of the crowd knew her when she

was growing up, others just want-

ed to show support. They were

attending a ceremony to name a

local authority after her.

The launching of the Dr

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Local

Municipality, a merger between

two smaller councils, was a rare

accolade. Only two other African

National Congress (ANC) stal-

warts – Nelson Mandela and

Ruth Mompati – have had local

authorities named after them.

In these parts, Dlamini-Zuma is

the woman of the moment, as

the ANC prepares for its elective

conference in December.

Family ties and the

futureofSouthAfrica

Being backed by her former husband is a double-edged

sword, but the former minister and AU Commission

chair rates her chances of becoming ANC president this

year and the party’s presidential candidate in 2019

The odds are currently in her

favour. She enjoys the support of

her former husband, President

Jacob Zuma, and his large grass-

roots network, which is strong

in the rural areas. Whatever the

controversies that surround him

and the sharpening rivalries within

the governing party, the benefits

of incumbency and his patron-

age network mean that Zuma still

wields considerable power.

At the launch of the eponymous

municipality, Dlamini-Zuma,

sporting a thick coat and leather

gloves, stepped into the ankle-

deep mud around the stage to

dance – in that stiff, elbow-pump-

ing style popularised by Nelson

Mandela – with the local choir.

SEVEN WONDERS

Much impressed by these singers,

Dlamini-Zuma said that record-

ing studios should be set up in

the villages to introduce South

Africa’s prodigious musical talent

to the world. She talked about

education and better governance

in her speech but avoided blatant

campaigning for office, which the

ANC’s rules forbid.

Those who shared the plat-

form with her, however, did

not hold back. Unconstrained,

the municipality’s manager,

Nkosiyezwe Cyprian Vezi, de-

clared: “She is one of the seven

wonders of the world, just like our

mountains here.” The Drakensberg

range on the KwaZulu-Natal and

Lesotho borders is one of South

Africa’s seven natural wonders.

An ANC mayor from a nearby

municipality said: “When she was

fighting pharmaceutical companies

for cheap medicines, that was rad-

ical economic transformation.”

Interpretations of ‘radical

economic transformation’ vary

according to the speaker’s politi-

cal allegiances: whether they are

from the camp of the traditionalist

Zuma, or his rival, the more busi-

ness-minded deputy president

Cyril Ramaphosa. Dlamini-Zuma

insists she sees economic trans-

formation as about transferring

power to the grassroots, a constant

theme in her speeches.

She is ill at ease in Western

boardrooms. In April, she spoke

at a small business dinner in

London organised by Rob Hersov,

chief executive of Invest Africa.

Businesspeople at the dinner were

underwhelmed. They complained

that she had stepped up to the

Nkosazana

Dlamini-Zuma

Former chair, African Union Commission

A VETERAN

LEADER

1940

Born in Natal

1976 Exiled

to Britain for

anti-apartheid

activites, where

she qualifies

as a doctor

1994 Becomes

minister

of health

1999 Becomes

minister of

foreign affairs

2012 Elected

Chair of AU

Commission

2017 Replaced

as AU head,

starts campaign

to replace Zuma

as president

36 POLITICS