South Africa votes for change - Mbeki routed

Current South African president Mbeki is finishing his second (and final) term as president though he hoped to maintain control of the ruling ANC. Controlling the primary political party essentially means controlling the government in South Africa. Yesterday the ANC party members voted for the leadership role yesterday and Mbeki lost badly to Jacob Zuma. In recent years Zuma has faced trial for rape (he was acquitted) and has also faced charges of corruption. The corruption charges have not yet been put to rest and could come back to end his career.

Outside of South Africa, Mbeki is best known for his bizarre theories on HIV/AIDS. Internally, Mbeki was viewed as an unpleasant, technocrat who never managed to connect with the people. Years after apartheid, the problem of poverty is still very present though it is hard to deny the growth of the black middle and upper class. The problem has been the limits of that growth and the continuing misery of millions.

(More after the jump on Zuma and changes for South Africa.)
Zuma has his own strange beliefs on the subject of HIV/AIDS (just take a shower after sex) but he has been able to connect with the people around the country. Whether Zuma has the ability to grow the middle class, it's hard to say.

I spent half a year traveling around South Africa a few years ago and visited numerous "townships" across the country. What jumped out to me was that there were so many hard working people who lived in such poverty. We befriended a young South African who invited us to his house and meet the family in one particular township. His mother worked in a posh hotel, traveling by bus every day and working long hours, though she still had very little to show for her efforts.

The house was a very basic square (as you see in most townships) that did not include any modern conveniences in the kitchen and was sparsely filled. It was amazing to see such a hard working family have so little. It's not that I don't understand the local economics in such places, but in South Africa you constantly stumble upon such great discrepancies between rich and poor. Change can't happen overnight but the ANC has been in power since 1994 and it's not unreasonable to expect a little more.

Mbeki can be credited with maintaining a good economy and keeping foreign investment but times have changed and people want more. Hard working people have every right to expect that their lot in life improve if they put their nose to the grindstone. If anything, this is a healthy development that more people want to join the middle class.

The challenge in the future will be whether Zuma can maintain economic growth while expanding the middle class. The biggest fear among some is the possibility of expanding the old boy network, with all of the favors-to-friends that too often dominates politics. Of course, Zuma also needs to get beyond his existing corruption problems.