West, The ANC’s deployment of religion in nation buildingtransformation by spiritual values, through public education and com-
mitment in the branches, the religious bodies, the media, in branches of
government, in the structures of the ANC, and wherever people are
learning to transform human community together” (ANC 2007b:7).^10
To what extent “The RDP of the Soul” Policy Discussion Document has
been taken up through ANC programmes is not clear, though discus-
sions with Cedric Mayson, the past Coordinator of the ANC Commis-
sion for Religious Affairs, indicate that not much has been done about
this Document. One imagines that much of what happened at Polok-
wane and in its aftermath, including the recall of President Thabo Mbeki
and the ongoing legal struggles of the new ANC president, Jacob Zuma,
has overshadowed not only this Policy Discussion Document but all the
others as well. But whatever the formal status of this Document after
Polokwane, there has been a marked shift in religion in the public realm
since Polokwane. And this brings me to the third and final part of my
essay.
Jacob Zuma’s deployment of religion
Both the erudite and somewhat bookish religion of Thabo Mbeki and the
ecumenical secular-spirituality of “The RDP of the Soul” have been
relegated to the back seat since Polokwane. Popular religion is now
firmly in the front seat. Though it is too early to tell the precise shape of
post-Polokwane religion in the public realm there are already clear
markers.
There is no evidence yet that my car-wash companion was right about
Jacob Zuma knowing the Bible better than Mbeki, unless he was using
the phrase “knows his Bible” to mean that Zuma is a more overtly reli-
gious person than Mbeki, in which case he is probably right. Zuma
appears more comfortable and fluent in deploying religion in the public
realm. Zuma clearly represents himself as a religious man, but in ways
which are different from his predecessor and the religious policy docu-
ment of his party. Zuma is in many ways quite different from Mbeki, the
classically literate humanist with a feel for the language of the King
James Version of the Bible and a preference for the Bible’s wisdom
(^10) Three other areas are discussed in this fourth and final section, including the issue of
religious “Public holidays”, “The Open Vote”, and the formation of a “CRA
[Commission for Religious Affairs] Pastoral Committee” (ANC 2007b:7). There are
also a number of “Questions for Discussion” (ANC 2007b:8).