Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - May 14, 2006

He is also said to have exposed the fragility of South Africa's new democracy.

Following his acquittal on Monday, newspapers in the US and UK declared Zuma "unfit for office", and said the case had wider implications for South Africa's image as it had "exposed the cracks beneath the post-apartheid glow".

In a hard-hitting editorial, the New York Times said Zuma's "future political activity deserves to be limited to voting" because of the irresponsible behaviour to which he had confessed during the trial.

"Where do we begin [to list his irresponsible behaviour]?" the editorial asked.

It said Zuma's views reflected the attitude of a male-dominated society where men believed they were entitled to sex when they demanded or wanted it.

"South Africa already had several government officials whose dubious statements about Aids set back the cause of fighting the disease; now Zuma joins them. Those who are now welcoming him back to political life - including the secretary-general of the African National Congress - are doing the country a disservice. He has been acquitted of rape, but is still unfit for office," the editorial said.

Across the Atlantic, Rory Carroll of The Guardian declared that the trial, a "mix of politics, sex and HIV/Aids" had "drilled into the country's core and exposed cracks beneath the post-apartheid sheen of democracy and economic growth.

"In 26 days of testimony, the world learned about fractious rulers, overt chauvinism and shocking disarray in the fight against Aids," Carroll wrote.

His fellow correspondent, Christopher Hope, went even further and said the trial had left South Africa - where "murder goes unchecked, the Aids menace is denied and violence against women and children is endemic" - "in the dock".

"The new South Africa is in many ways even stranger than the old, and nothing shows it more embarrassingly than the trial of Jacob Zuma," he wrote.

He said the judgment was not the end of the story but the beginning because "violence in South Africa is at the heart of this case and violence is so pervasive, and so fundamental to the way that people react to each other, that hitting, shooting or raping are the terrifying means by which South Africans stay in touch ..."

While less strident, the UK's other broadsheets also questioned the outcome.

The Telegraph said the trial would undermine efforts to check the spread of HIV in South Africa - and had revealed the "thuggishly macho face of the ruling ANC".

The Independent said the trial raised some "uncomfortable questions about South Africa's future" and said that, despite President Thabo Mbeki's efforts, it was "impossible to ignore the fact that South African democracy is still lacking".

In a forum on the BBC website, most commentators also bemoaned the judgment as a "sad day for South Africa".

Said Mogomotsi from Soweto: "I don't think Zuma should be voted president of the country. He isn't generally a good role model ... He might be innocent, but he knows what he did."

060514
ST060504