Zuma wins crucial ANC vote

The ruling party in South Africa today voted to keep President Jacob Zuma as the head of the African National Congress. This means he will be their candidate in the next elections, almost guaranteeing he will win a second 5 year term. Zuma overwhelming defeated his only challenger, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Günther Simmermacher is the editor of The Southern Cross, South Africa’s largest Catholic newspaper.

“Returning Zuma is not necessarily a vote of confidence in what [he] has or has not accomplished over the last five years as ANC president, but would seem to me a vote for stability, as well as a vote against certain ANC leaders who aligned themselves with the anti-Zuma faction, specifically I would presume the expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema,” he said.

Listen to the interview by Charles Collins with Günther Simmermacher: