Mr. de Klerk was president of South Africa, 1989-94. This is adapted from a longer article published by Raddington Report.
South Africa’s “miracle,” the great nonracial constitutional accord negotiated in the early 1990s, is in deep trouble. Ten years ago, Jacob Zuma was elected leader of the ruling African National Congress. At the ANC’s 2007 national conference, 60% of delegates voted for Mr. Zuma in full knowledge of the 783 outstanding fraud and corruption charges against him.
They chose Mr. Zuma because of his struggle credentials, his charisma and his appeal to African traditionalists. But he turned out to be a far more formidable politician than the ANC’s left wing, which assured his victory, had anticipated. Many of the delegates who voted for him now bitterly regret their role in his ascendance.
Mr. Zuma was elected president in 2009, and soon he began to seize personal control of important state institutions by appointing loyalists to lead them. Those under his control include the National Prosecuting Authority, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (better known as the “Hawks,” South Africa’s version of the FBI), the intelligence services, and possibly even the new Public Protector, or state ombudsman.
These institutions are now routinely abused to harass Mr. Zuma’s opponents and protect his corrupt friends and allies. Parliament has all too often been an uncritical rubber stamp for his policies. Legislators have failed to exercise proper oversight to prevent corrupt practices.
The erosion of these institutions’ independence has released a flood of corruption. Media accounts, along with a report from the former Public Protector, show that the three Gupta brothers, Indian-born business magnates, have played a brazen role in this process. They are closely associated with Mr. Zuma and have allegedly, according to thousands of leaked emails, siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from state contracts, such as a recent locomotive deal, and redirected millions to finance the lavish wedding of one of their nephews. (The Guptas have denied wrongdoing.)
The ANC’s policy of “cadre deployment,” its euphemism for appointing party loyalists to key posts despite their lack of skills and experience, also has weakened government departments and debilitated state-owned enterprises. Since 2007, South Africa’s government has abrogated bilateral investment treaties with 13 European Union countries. It has adopted a new Mining Charter that would ratchet up requirements for black shareholding and management, though the policy is now shelved by legal challenges from the mining industry. The Zuma government is adopting legislation to limit land holdings and prohibit foreign ownership of agricultural property. Mr. Zuma has threatened to expropriate white-owned farms without compensation to accelerate land reform.
These actions, together with Mr. Zuma’s decisions to fire two competent and principled finance ministers, have led to recession and discouraged critically needed investment. South Africa’s bond ratings have been downgraded to junk.
