South Africa: The roaring of the mice

Many in South Africa have long held that it would not be a bad thing for democracy if there was a split in the ruling ANC alliance. But the recent showdown in the ANC-SACP-Cosatu alliance over former deputy president Jacob Zuma has given a glimpse of what this political landscape might look like and as Sam Sole writes in a commentary for the Mail and Guardian, "it's not pretty". Sole recounts the words of political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi's categorisation of the support for Zuma as the "coalition of the irrational" and warns: "The profound absence of discernable Zuma policy positions on anything, let alone a recognisable record of support for traditional left positions, should give us all pause."