JOHN LLOYD: Zuma? Just a typical modern politician
'Zuma is an example of a growing number of politicians, who, for all their real and alleged offences before the law and public morality, can count on a base whose members ignore all that'
Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, survived a no-confidence motion in the country’s parliament earlier this week. It was the eighth since he took office eight years ago. Zuma won the vote by more than a whisker, with 198 votes in his favor, 177 against. But it wasn’t a full-hearted endorsement, and he was wounded by the fact that between 30 and 40 members of his ruling African National Congress ignored party leaders’ expulsion threats and instead chose either to abstain or vote against him in the secret ballot. Zuma, who was elected president of South Africa in 2009 and re-elected in 2014, is a man with many political lives. Since 1999, he has faced charges of corruption, rape and misuse of public money. The corruption charges, initially dismissed, were revived last year. He was acquitted on the charge of raping a family friend, but has long been ridiculed for saying that he took a shower after sex with the HIV-positive woman to prevent infection. In March 2016, the country’s hi...
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