SomesuspectedthatDlamini-Zuma’s
stint at the AU was more about internal
SouthAfricanpoliticsandherhusband’s
efforts to build a foreign policy legacy
thananyclearstrategicaims.Severalbig
crises–conflictsintheDRC,Sudan,South
SudanandSomalia–continuedunabated
under her watch. Her efforts to send an
AU peacekeepingforce toBurundiwere
comprehensively outmanoeuvred by
President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Her diplomatic skills had been ques-
tionedinthepast.Whenshewasnamed
foreignminister,thenSouth
African opposition leader
Tony Leon likened her ap-
pointment to “sending the
bull into the china shop”.
However, after years of
wrangling at the AU, she did succeed in
persuading member governments to
agree to a financing system that would
breaktheorganisation’schronicdepend-
ence on rich countries’ aid budgets.
FebePotgieter-Gqubule,deputychief
of staff to Dlamini-Zuma at the AU, says
sheis“aworkaholic.Shemicro-manages
people,butshethendeliversthegoods.”
Dlamini-Zuma consistently pushed for
women’srights,addsPotgieter-Gqubule,
in all areas of AU business, including
conflict resolution and recruitment.“SHE HAS TALENT”
Certainly, parts of the AU’s creaking bu-
reaucracy improved under her watch.
She got AU meetings to finish and start
on time. Her much-publicised Agenda
2063, a 50-year plan for the continent,
was more contentious: some saw it as
visionary,othersdismisseditasvacuous.
Unsurprisingly,giventheirpoliticaland
personalties,PresidentZumawasoneof
Dlamini-Zuma’s loudest cheerleaders.
“TheAUwasdysfunctional,andasSouth
Africawesentsomeonewetrusttosolve
problems,andsomeonewhoknowswhat
the African people want,” he said.
Thetworemainextremelyclosedespite
her decision to divorce Zuma in 1998
after a 16-year marriage. In May, Zuma
sat by Dlamini-Zuma’s side, giving his
blessingstoherataMother’sDayservice
at a Catholic church near Bulwer.
Speakinginisi-Zulu,Zumapraisedher
as a “veteran leader” whose leadership
skills started from primary school and
who is “honest and responsible”. You
can trust her even when you are asleep,
he said. She knows politics, he said,
and “you cannot fool her”. She knows
how to lead, she cannot be bought withmoney. “I know her personally, inside
and out. She’s not just a comrade.”
Zuma’s Mother’s Day tribute contin-
ued: “If we can make her [president] in
SouthAfrica, the country would change
drastically. She wants black people to
succeed. Those with big mouths would
be amazed,” he said, referring to his
critics. “She has love. She has talent.”
Some claim that Zuma has got his
business friends to finance public rela-
tions for Dlamini-Zuma’s presidential
campaign. She has a flashy website,extolling her many achievements and is
travelling around the country speaking
to ANC branches. More than many of
her peers, Dlamini-Zuma styles herself
as a party stalwart, in the tradition of
her ex-husband.
If Dlamini-Zuma has tried to distance
herself from President Zuma, it has not
worked. Many Zulus insist there is no
such thing as divorce in their culture.
Insiders say it would be inconceivable
for her to win the presidency and allow
her husband to face prosecution on
any of the charges he faces – family ties
would not allow it.
“The children are close to both of
them,” a friend of one of their four
daughters says. One story has it that
Dlamini-Zuma’s children pleaded withher to turn down the offer of the deputy
presidency from Mbeki in 2005. Days
earlier, Mbeki had sacked Zuma from
the position because he was facing
corruption charges.
Their youngest daughter, Thuthukile,
28, is as political as her parents. She
was controversially appointed to sen-
ior posts by two of Zuma’s ministers.
Now Thuthukile is one of her mother’s
biggest campaigners. In January, she
posted “A female president” on her
Facebook wall as one of her political
aspirations of the year.WHAT’S IN A NAME?
In June, the party’s youth and veterans’
leagues produced almost identical
lists of candidates for the ANC’s top six
leadership.Dlamini-Zumatoppedthem
both. This followed the ANC Women’s
Leagueendorsementofherpresidential
ambitions in January.
Two provincial premiers – Ace
Magashule of Free State and David
Mabuza from Mpumalanga – were on
Dlamini-Zuma’sslateofcandidates.They
both aim to step into national politics
when their provincial terms finish in- Together with a third, North West
premierSupraMahumapelo,thisgroup
isknownasthe ‘PremierLeague’ and so
far they back Dlamini-Zuma.
Thesepartygroups,manyofwhichare
arguing that it is time for a woman pres-
ident, have been running a proxy cam-
paignforDlamini-Zuma.Shehashelped
this campaign by telling supporters of
Party groups are running
a proxy campaign under the
woman president banner38 POLITICS