Political leaders should never stay in power for over a decade, South Africa’s ruling party president Jacob Zuma has said, making clear his opposition to the path taken by some African rulers.
Zuma spoke to the Wall Street Journal in an interview before neighbouring Zimbabwe held elections last month, in which President Robert Mugabe is trying to extend his 28-year rule.
Zuma is the frontrunner to take South Africa’s presidency in 2009 after beating President Thabo Mbeki to the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), which Mbeki had tried to keep despite being obliged to step down as national president after two terms.
”You’ve got to have leaders who don’t stay too much,” Zuma said. ”Ten years is enough. Beyond 10 years, politicians begin to personalise everything and there begin to have problems.”
Zuma said the fact that he had been able to defeat the sitting president showed ”the depth, the maturity, the understanding of democratic principles” by the ANC.
Zuma is expected to become president as long as he can beat a corruption trial due to start in August. He has been trying to assuage the fears of some businesses that South Africa would move to the left if he takes over.
Despite Zuma’s opposition to leaders keeping power for more than 10 years, he said South Africa should continue its policy of engaging with Mugabe to try to find a solution to its political and economic crisis.
”We can’t change that stance. Those who have been condemning make the task of solving Zimbabwe’s problems more difficult,” he said in an apparent reference to the harder line taken by the United States and Britain.
Zuma has given no sign of having changed that stance since Zimbabwe’s elections, in which ruling party and independent projections show Mugabe was defeated by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, but would go into a run-off vote for the presidency.
Mbeki, accused by critics of being too soft on Mugabe, has said the world should wait to see the results before taking action. The opposition has gone to court to try to force the release of results, saying Mugabe wants a delay to help him keep power. — Reuters