Word: mandelas
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...Mandela may simply find it impossible to discipline the wife who suffered so much during his 27 years in prison. Or he might prefer to have her in his government where he can keep an eye on her, since she has staked out a separate role as leader of the most militant and potentially violent of the township proletariat -- especially the gun-toting youth gangs. While the A.N.C.'s top echelon is mostly moderate, almost 50% of its 1 million rank-and- file members are in the militant camp. If reforms begin to slip and there is no tangible progress...
Another brewing problem is the possibility that Mandela's estranged wife Winnie might get a minor Cabinet post. Though she was convicted in the kidnapping of a township youth who was later murdered, she scored an upset last year in winning election as head of the A.N.C. Women's League. This year the party put her high on its list for a parliamentary seat...
LACK OF DISCIPLINE. This sort of thing highlights a critical weakness in the A.N.C. leadership: accountability. The party's own bylaws bar convicted criminals from holding office. Nevertheless, Winnie Mandela was allowed to take a prominent role. Oddly, Mandela defended the inconsistency by arguing that it was somehow only democratic to let her pursue her political career in spite of the rules. "Democratic culture in the A.N.C. is deeply entrenched," he said. "What the people decide, we accept." Mandela and his colleagues have also gone easy on several A.N.C. officials implicated in killing and torturing prisoners in the organization...
...fear of crime. The pre-election bombings failed to shatter the elections partly because violence is already out of control in black shantytowns and white suburbs alike, where burglaries, carjackings and robberies are everyday events. The incidents often have nothing to do with politics, and they scare everyone. Mandela may be planning something like a law-and-order crackdown: he was an advocate of the state of emergency that was imposed in Natal province last month, and he has been talking more and more about enacting strict gun- control regulations. Right-wing whites and township gangs can be expected...
...final A.N.C. election rally in Soweto, when a burst of celebratory gunfire ripped the air, Mandela turned stony faced. "It is clear," he said sharply, "that criminality is deep seated even amongst members of the A.N.C." If he found out who was carrying the arms, he said, he would suspend ! them from membership "because one of our commitments is to ensure gun control." His close colleague Mbeki also says violence must be curbed. One reason is to safeguard "the first impression this new South Africa makes, particularly on the investor community inside and outside the country...