JACOB Zuma . . . I am no Robert Mugabe

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s former deputy president Jacob Zuma has rejected charges that he is a new Robert Mugabe in the making branding the veteran Zimbabwean leader a “monster.” 

Zuma, who is heavily tipped to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in 2007 and possibly state president two years later, was speaking in an interview with a British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph. 

Political commentators have expressed fears that if Zuma wins the South African presidency, he will introduce populist economic policies reminiscent to what happened in Zimbabwe where Mugabe seized white farms for redistribution to landless blacks. 

"As a member and a leader of the ANC all I do is carry out ANC policies," he said. "How could you have an individual who would become such a monster? The ANC system does not allow for that kind of thing." 

The ANC, while acknowledging that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe, has in the past steadfastly refused to openly attack Mugabe who is still revered in Africa as a liberation war hero. 

The criticism of Mugabe by Zuma ranks among the most forthright by a senior ANC official. 

But Zuma defended Mugabe’s land seizures blaming the crisis on Britain which he said failed to honour its promises to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe.

He also defended South Africa’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” towards Harare which his government has pursued over the past six years.

"Other people have adopted the policy of criticising Mugabe from a distance, which only makes him more angry. We are the only ones who have engaged him on the issues," Zuma said. - ZimOnline