It's doubtful there will be much of a change from the post-apartheid election landslide though Tutu's words definitely suggest a cloudy future for the liberation party in South Africa. Tutu remains a respected voice in South Africa and the world and has rarely shied from speaking his mind. At this time is sounds like a "wait and see" approach to the new ANC under Jacob Zuma. The Independent:
"In the first years of our freedom most people would have tended to vote ANC, now it is no longer quite so straightforward," the retired Cape Town cleric and Nobel laureate said. "I feel good but it isn't like the previous elections. Quite unlike previous elections, there's a lot of heart-searching." Dr Tutu, who has publicly questioned whether the ANC leader Jacob Zuma is fit to govern, refused to reveal who he had voted for yesterday.When we were there six years ago the daily debate was which direction the country would go. On Monday we were ready to move there permanently and by Tuesday morning, there wasn't a remote chance of even considering it. I had to stop reading the newspapers because of the brutal violence that was no longer front page news, but instead tucked away in the back pages along with traffic violations. (Slight overstatement, but not much.) And then there were discussions with friends about break ins or robberies. As dangerous as Thabo Mbeki was on the subject of AIDS he was otherwise a status quo type of leader. Nothing really moved either way.
Many in the ruling party, buoyed by a strong campaign and favourable opinion polls, believe that they will come close to maintaining their 70 per cent share of the vote.
However the Archbishop warned them against viewing South Africans as "voting cattle" in what appeared to be a coded call for a protest ballot against the ANC. "People have to make decisions and some decisions go against the inclinations," he said.
Zuma's arrival suggests change of some sort. Will this mean radical land reform or housing for the poor or will it be business as usual, including big talk? Who knows? And that's exactly the daily problem in South Africa. Who knows?
