Thousands celebrate Zuma lead in S. Africa
ANC appears set for impressive win
JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of ANC supporters celebrated with Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg yesterday as the ruling party took a commanding lead in an election that seemed certain to make him president.
Zuma, who danced and sang his trademark "Bring me my machine gun" anti-apartheid anthem, stressed the African National Congress was "not yet celebrating victory," although with some 60 percent of votes counted, it was set for a resounding win.
The ANC had 66.52 percent, according to the latest results, within a whisker of the two-thirds majority that allows it to change the constitution - a scenario that has unnerved markets even though the party has stressed it will not abuse the right.
"This party is an elephant. You cannot actually topple an elephant," Zuma told a sea of cheering supporters clad in the party colors of yellow, green, and black at ANC headquarters in central Johannesburg.
Zuma portrays himself as a champion of the poor, and for many voters the ANC's credentials from the fight against white minority rule still outweigh its failure to tackle crime, poverty, and AIDS.
The ANC had faced a reinvigorated opposition which had hoped to at least curb its majority to below two-thirds, compared with almost 70 percent in 2004.
But the Congress of the People (COPE) party, formed by ANC dissidents with the aim of posing the first real challenge since the end of apartheid in 1994, won 7.66 percent of votes counted.
The ANC's closest rival was the Democratic Alliance - led by a white woman - with 16.37 percent.
The DA pulled ahead of the ANC in the Western Cape province - South Africa's premier tourist destination, which is currently controlled by the ANC.
"We've got to realign politics in South Africa and that's what I'm going to spend the next five years doing," DA leader Helen Zille said.
The final result was not expected before today but there was little doubt the 67-year-old Zuma would become president only three weeks after managing to get prosecutors to drop an eight-year-old corruption case that had tainted his reputation.
Supporters in Johannesburg whooped and blared horns as Zuma, dressed in a red polo shirt and leather jacket, used a speech peppered with his native Zulu to play up the party's grass-roots links and capitalize on his populist appeal.
