Jacob Zuma, South Africa's next President, thanked jubilant supporters of the ruling African National Congress yesterday for working to secure a landslide victory in the country's most keenly contested polls since the end of apartheid in 1994.
“This party is an elephant. You cannot actually topple an elephant,” Mr Zuma told thousands of cheering, flag-waving activists who thronged the streets outside the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg.
Dressed in a bomber jacket in the ANC colours, Mr Zuma told supporters that there would be a full-scale victory celebration when official results are published today.
The ANC is on course to win more than 66 per cent of the votes cast, in a personal vindication of Mr Zuma, 67, who has overcome sex and corruption scandals and one of the worst splits in the ANC's history to become the country's fourth black President.
“We know that counting is still going on but we can smell a 70 per cent majority,” he said before leading the crowd into a rendition of popular liberation struggle hymns. One song, belted out in his native Zulu, translates as “whatever the obstacles we will overcome”. It could serve as a description of his entire political career.
Gwede Mantashe, the ANC's Secretary-General, said that the party was delighted with the results, which compare favourably with previous polls despite what is known as the “Zuma factor”.
“We have been talking about a decisive victory, which we think is in sight,” he said, adding that the party had no plans to change the Constitution even if it achieved the two-thirds majority in Parliament that permits this. Opposition parties had feared that the ANC would use such a majority to entrench its power further.
The gloss was taken off the ANC victory somewhat by the expected loss of the affluent and ethnically mixed Western Cape province to the white-led Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA was also polling strongly in many other areas. The prospect of a Zuma presidency has deeply polarised the nation.
William Gumede, a political commentator, told The Times: “The broad- church ANC of Nelson Mandela is no more, but there is much to welcome in these results. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, and democracy is the stronger for it. Parliament is going to be lively.”
Under Mr Zuma, the ANC has boosted its appeal to the mass of poor black voters but lost support among white liberals, an emerging middle class, and Coloured (mixed-race) and Asian communities. Many of the black middle class, a small but vocal group, supported the new Congress of the People (Cope) party created only three months ago by ANC members loyal to Thabo Mbeki, the former President who lost a bitter three-year battle with Mr Zuma to lead the ANC.
Although Cope failed to dent the ANC's overall dominance, it was on course to become the official opposition in at least two provinces and could end up with a 40-strong block of MPs in the National Assembly after capturing about 8 per cent of the national vote. Mvume Dandala, the Cope presidential candidate, pledged to work with others in Parliament to keep the ANC, which is often accused of abusing its dominant position, in check.
Although Cope failed to dent the ANC's overall dominance, it was on course to become the official opposition in at least two provinces and could end up with a 40-strong block of MPs in the National Assembly after capturing about 8 per cent of the national vote. Mvume Dandala, the Cope presidential candidate, pledged to work with others in Parliament to keep the ANC, which is often accused of abusing its dominant position, in check.
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