Singing and dancing with hundreds of supporters in his Zulu heartland, South African President Jacob Zuma didn’t look like a man facing the biggest challenge to his leadership since he came to power nearly a decade ago.
Zuma drew unprecedented criticism from the top echelons of the African National Congress last week when he fired respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan and other cabinet members in favor of loyalists, opening a division in the party that has ruled since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.
In a gamble that could split the party further, Zuma is now expected to start seeking support from the ANC grassroots for his chosen successor to be picked at a national conference in December. Zuma is expected to endorse his former wife, ANC politician Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The two rival factions that have emerged in the ANC since Gordhan’s dismissal are now focused on winning the vote at that conference, party sources told Reuters.
Crowds chanted Zuma’s name on Saturday after he unveiled a new housing project in a poor suburb of Pietermaritzburg.
Voters in places like this want basic services, and feel disconnected from investors and politicians who condemned the removal of intellectual technocrats like Gordhan.
“There was no mistake. All the president did was give another minister a chance,” said Lindokahle Mbele, a 29-year-old construction worker who supports Zuma.
“The president is saying he will address youth issues. What people need is housing and assistance at school. Black people didn’t receive assistance. I think now they will get help.”
As they seek party and public backing, Zuma and his new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba have promised “radical socio-economic transformation”.
Few details have emerged but it is expected to include pledges to redistribute land and wealth to poorer black South Africans who are frustrated by the racial inequality that persists 23 years after the end of apartheid.
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