It is good news that the opposition parties made a bit of ground against the ANC. Winning the Cape Province is good too. However it is clear that South Africa is heading confidently down the path to being a one party state.
Poverty is still everywhere, and while huge huge strides have been made in terms of housing and even in healthcare there are some very worrying signs. First of all the corruption in the public infrastructure sector is now a serious issue. Secondly why it took Mbeki so long to acknowledge AIDs is beyond most.
Generally the murmurs are that Zuma could affect foreign direct investment as companies worry about what he and his cronies do. Will he let the Unions run riot. It cuts both ways as that would mean a harsher line against Mugabe (good), but could stifle investment and create yet more racial seperation in employment. The situation there being that there are now several thousand Afrikaaner squatter camps. They have nothing, can't get jobs and are paying a heavy price for the past. Mixed race people in the Cape have had enough of the employment discrimination they face from black south Africans and voted elsewhere this time. But most worryingly is the racial divide amongst black communities. People only employing people from their tribe etc. This is what has helped wreck Zim and has almost ruined Kenya. It cannot be allowed to flourish in South Africa.
Frequent reports about basic state corruption are a problem. For example it is virtually impossible in many places to claim any form of state benefit unless you produce an ANC card. Not a good thing.
South Africa is the shining beacon in sub saharan africa, don't let the flame exinguish.
President Zuma has a lot to live up to. I suspect he personally will do okay but that (as so often has happened elsewhere) he will fail to reign in his cronies who will build power bases, take money and divide the nation. Corruption will grow and the brain drain will continue.
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