Mandela calls for unity at final ANC poll rally (reminds ANC of its duty to eradicate poverty)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela Sunday reminded the ANC of its duty to eradicate poverty and urged unity in a surprise appearance at its final election rally.

He set the tone for the theme of racial accord at the African National Congress gathering where chants of "Mandela! Mandela!" rang out from the crowd of more than 100,000 supporters at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg.

"As we strive to secure a decisive victory for our organisation in the upcoming elections, we must remember our primary task. It is to eradicate poverty and ensure a better life for all," Mandela said.

"The ANC has the historical responsibility to lead our nation and help build a united non-racial society," he added in a brief pre-recorded message played as he sat on the stage at the party's last rally before Wednesday's general election.

Zuma followed with a message that South Africa belongs to both blacks and whites, 15 years after the fall of white-minority apartheid rule.

"We reaffirm that South Africa belongs to all of us, black and white," he said. "Working together we will ensure that no South African ever feels they are less valued than others because of their race, culture or religion."

His message came after several months of divisive politics and infighting within the ANC over his leadership, assuring supporters the party was as popular as ever.

Former president Thabo Mbeki, forced to resign by the ANC following a power struggle with Zuma, was not at the rally.

The ANC, which led a long but successful struggle against apartheid, is facing its toughest challenge ever at the ballot box from a breakaway opposition party, and it could lose its two-thirds legislative majority.

African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob Zuma gestures to supporters during an election camapign at Ngwelezana township. Former South African president Nelson Mandela reminded the ANC of its duty to eradicate poverty and urged unity in a surprise appearance at its final election rally. (AFP/Rajesh Jantilal)

ANC supporters cheer as South African ruling party president Jacob Zuma addresses a rally on the outskirt of Cape Town, February 2009. Former South African president Nelson Mandela reminded the ANC of its duty to eradicate poverty and urged unity in a surprise appearance at its final election rally. (AFP/File/Pieter Bauermeister)

Here are a couple of blogs with useful SA stats and info:

http://iluvsa.blogspot.com/

http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/

On Zuma, poverty and the future, here is an interesting comment by the managing editor of the Daily Nation, Kenya:

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/559648/-/44shmo/-/index.html

“I am a deeply cynical man, and I fear Mr Zuma will be total disaster for South Africa,” he writes, among other observations.

"Is there a good source out there to find statistics regarding how things have changed in South Africa since the end of apartheid?"

South African Communist Party looks to new Zuma era

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/764/sacp.html

With the April 22 election looming and Jacob Zuma finally free of criminal charges, things seem to be going to plan for the South African Communist Party leadership, writes Peter Manson The dropping of all criminal charges against African National Congress president Jacob Zuma just two weeks before the April 22 South African general election has been greeted by the ANC left, including the South African Communist Party, as a great victory.

The ANC is expected to be re-elected with a slightly reduced majority - perhaps it will fall below the two-thirds needed to implement constitutional changes. The national assembly will see the election of 400 members by proportional representation - half directly and half from provincial lists. Amongst the ANC contingent in the new parliament will be the usual sizable bloc of SACP comrades - general secretary Blade Nzimande, his deputy Jeremy Cronin and transport minister Jeff Radebe are all near the top of the ANC slate of candidates.

The national assembly will then proceed to elect Zuma as state president, replacing the current standby and former South African Communist Party member, Kgalema Motlanthe. Zuma's election is regarded as a substantial step forward by the SACP leadership, which claims to believe that it will mark the end of the era of cuts, privatisation and attacks on the working class under Thabo Mbeki, who dutifully followed ANC instructions to resign the presidency in September 2008.

Under Mbeki the suffering of the poor had intensified and the ANC was losing support. Around 40% of the adult population is unemployed and, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations, 4.2 million people are categorised as suffering from "severe poverty" (an income of less than $1 a day). This figure has more than doubled since the ending of apartheid. An estimated 5.3 million South Africans are HIV-positive.

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