Foreign Policy Blogs

The Exquisite Timing of the Zuma Trial

After all of the machinations and missed deadlines and bureaucratic holdups, Jacob Zuma's corruption trial date has been set for August. The timing of this could not bode worse either for justice or for South African politics. Despite the very real political threat from the Congress of the people (COPE) the reality is that the African National Congress (ANC) will likely win the elections handily, even if by a much smaller margin than at any time since 1994, and so Jacob Zuma will almost certainly be President when the case convenes. What an utter nightmare that will be even if Zuma is found innocent. Never mind, for the moment, what it will mean if he is convicted.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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