Eric Edelstein

Only those with their head in the clouds, would not have heard about the nail biting race between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma for leader of the ANC.

It’s been a fascinating few months watching the ANC succession race develop - the new elected leader of the ANC will (unless some dramatic events unfold) assume the presidency of South Africa in 2009.

And it’s a close race - Tokyo Sexwale, who was a contender in the early stages, is now backing Jacob Zuma.

The voting is taking place in Polokwane in the Limpopo today and results should be known later today or tomorrow. The first time I heard that Jacob Zuma had a serious chance of winning the ANC leadership was at a business breakfast about 2 or 3 months ago when DA leader Helen Zille hinted in her speech that Jacob Zuma as the next South African president was a definate possibility.

How will things change in South Africa if Jacob Zuma becomes president of South Africa - I don’t think anyone knows. From a business perspective, there was talk a few weeks back, that the international business community would not take kindly to Zuma taking the post, but it appears that Zuma has been doing some heavy networking with those outside of South African’s borders over the last few weeks…

There’s been so much written about both Mbeki and Zuma over the last few months, and it’s impossible to tell what is true and what is hype. I guess the question that interests me most is will Zuma as the ANC leader and South African president affect my way of life? At this stage I have no idea… 

PS: I woke up thinking about Zuma domain names this morning. Zuma.com and Mbeki.com were registered years ago, and JacobZuma.co.za and JacobZuma.com have been snapped up and zuma.co.za was only registered in June this year!! (that’s quite a catch)… BUT Jacob-Zuma.co.za is AVAILABLE. I’ve decided I’m not registering it. On your marks, get set, go….