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04/11/2009: "Dropping the charges: Jacob Zuma is poised to become president of South Africa"

IT HAD been widely expected. Barely two weeks before South Africa's general election, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced on Monday April 6th that all charges for corruption, racketeering, money-laundering and fraud against Jacob Zuma, who leads the ruling African National Congress (ANC), have been dropped. That seems to bring to an end a tortured legal drama that has held South Africans in thrall for the past eight years. It also appears to clear away any lingering doubt that Mr Zuma will be South Africa's next president.

A set of charges against Mr Zuma had been released at precisely the moment - just after elections for the leadership of the ruling party in December 2007 - that would cause maximum embarrassment for him, and thus most gain for Mr Mbeki. It did not matter that the prosecuting team itself had acted "properly, honestly, fairly and justly throughout". The prosecuting authority felt it was "neither possible nor desirable" to continue the prosecution.

None of this is likely to affect the elections on April 22nd. Asked in a recent opinion poll if they believed the ANC leader to be guilty of corruption, most of the South Africans polled, black and white, said yes. They also believed he should stand trial. But for the vast majority of poor black South Africans what matters most are bread-and-butter issues, such as housing, health and education, not the niceties of the law. They would therefore have turned out in very large numbers to support Mr Zuma whatever the NPA decided. The latest opinion polls, taken before Mr Zuma's charges were dropped, indicated that the ANC would romp home to renewed victory with just under two-thirds of the vote.

[ How proud the anti-apartheid campaigners must feel now, to see how South Africa has developed. ]

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13435586&fsrc=rss