U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) watches as South Africa's President Jacob Zuma speaks during a photo call after a brief meeting in Durban, August 8, 2009. Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to press for reform in Zimbabwe and said Washington would build closer ties with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)State of Desperation -- Newsweek
Why is South Africa, our most stalwart ally in all of Africa, acting like a rogue state?
Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma—the most important interlocutor during her 11-day, seven-nation tour of Africa—professed their mutual regard. Clinton vowed "to put meat on the bone" of U.S.-South African relations; Zuma said that he, too, wants to take them to "a higher level." Washington was perpetually stymied by Zuma's predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS (a disastrous posture that Harvardresearchers think led to nearly 400,000 preventable deaths) and defended President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. So the United States hopes Zuma, who often tussled with Mbeki and has promised a more transparent governing style, can be the sort of leader who will fulfill South Africa's role as the political, economic, and military anchor of the continent.
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My Comment: My answer to Newsweek is .... why are you surprised?
South Africa has been ruled by the leadership of the ANC for the past 15 years. These men ... from Nelson Mandela to Jacob-Zuma of today have always espoused a very hardcore socialist and anti-western ideology. It is in their writings, and now it is official policy.
Selling weapon systems to anti-western states is as natural to them as supporting tyrants (like Zimbabwe's Muhabe) is to remain in power.
Jacob-Zuma represents the worse of them. His corruption and brutality to remain in power is legendary, and the fact that he now runs the South African government apparatus is (for South Africans and Africa as a whole) a worrisome development.