South African newspapers ushered in a new era of hope under a Jacob Zuma presidency on Sunday, but warned that it was now time for hard work and good governance as he and his new Cabinet take office.
The Sunday Times headline declared ”A new dawn” after Zuma’s inauguration on Saturday in front of tens of thousands in Pretoria in which the new leader moved ”to heal the wounds of bitter political battles”.
The controversial leader’s rise to power, a political battle within the ANC that split the party and forced his rival Thabo Mbeki from the presidency, now had to focus on the needs of the country, the paper said.
”…the contest is over. Jacob Zuma holds the prize,” read the Sunday Times editorial entitled ”Now is the time for good governance.”
”Now it is the country and not the party that begs the attention of the new government.”
The newspaper said the government should be open about promises it could not fulfill as Zuma pledged to tackle poverty and unemployment amid a global recession.
”The new team … must do more with less,” the paper argued.
”They cannot implement all the promises made during the campaigns. This is a reality the government must acknowledge and explain, not seek to conceal.”
With a similar headline hailing the ”Zuma dawn”, the Cape Town Weekend Argus editorial, headlined ”Great Expectations” noted Zuma’s harshest critics were keeping quiet, giving him time to settle in and prove the sceptics wrong.
”The world is watching to see if Zuma is capable of living up to his pledges and putting the country first,” said the paper.
”Now for the hard work,” wrote Rapport. Zuma was off to a promising start, but there was a difference between promises and delivery, it said.
The newspaper’s editorial also urged greater separation between the state and the party, which won elections with 66% of the vote.
Zuma would need to watch his Cabinet ministers closely, replacing those who did not perform — unlike his Mbeki, who had often been criticised for keeping on under-performing ministers.
The Sunday Times agreed: ”Corrupt ministers and officials must be fired, not redeployed or allowed to fight on endlessly at the publics expense.” – AFP
