December 20, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 9, 1428

POLOKWANE (South Africa), Dec 19: Newly elected ANC leader Jacob Zuma came under early pressure from his leftist backers on Wednesday to steer South Africa on a more pro-union course after toppling arch rival Thabo Mbeki.

A day after his stunning victory over President Mbeki in the contest to lead South Africa’s ruling party, Zuma was keeping his counsel and met with senior advisors to plan his next move after a bitter election contest.

While all sides played down the idea of major policy changes, analysts said the result could herald realignment in a party accused of neglecting its working class base while governing since the end of whites-only rule in 1994.

Zuma’s stunning victory was partly based on growing disillusionment with the failure to eradicate poverty in the 13 years since apartheid, with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and unions among his most prominent backers.

“The new leadership’s top priority must be to make the second 10 years of freedom a decade for the workers and the poor,” Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told reporters on Wednesday.

Added SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande: “We are confident that we will have Comrade Zuma’s ear. That doesn’t mean we will agree on everything.” The pro-business Mbeki would have wanted unfettered control in his last two years as head of state before he is constitutionally obliged to stand down, but the humiliating defeat will force him to deal with a rival centre of power.

“The victory means that while Zuma will hold sway at party headquarters at Luthuli House, Johannesburg, Mbeki will continue to run the country from the Union Buildings, raising the prospect of a power struggle pitting party against state,” said the Business Day newspaper.

The Star declared Mbeki a “lame duck president” and warned his government “could be crippled and forced to account to the newly-elected leadership”.

Expectations that Zuma would flesh out his future plans for the party were quashed when he cancelled a press conference as delegates met behind closed doors to discuss the make-up of the 86-strong national executive committee.

However COSATU, a junior member of the governing alliance which has been one of Zuma’s most steadfast allies, hoped Zuma would chart a different course than Mbeki, whom it accuses of leading aloofly and autocratically.

“We expect him to be loyal to the decisions of the ANC. But our hope is that he will lead an ANC that will better engage with us,” said Vavi.

He acknowledged Mbeki’s remaining time in office “will be a difficult period ... that requires to be navigated very carefully”.

“The two most powerful individuals in the country have contested against each other -- one won and one lost. One will have the mass power, proven, and one will have lots of institutional power,” he said.

“There ought to be consideration ... some form of a protocol, a way of ensuring there is better synergy between the government and the ANC.” Analysts had predicted Zuma’s camp might push for early elections but another key ally played down such as a prospect.—AFP