Zuma the comeback kid sworn in as leader

Published on Saturday 9 May 2009 19:57

JACOB Zuma was sworn in as South African president yesterday after a remarkable political comeback and quickly highlighted the challenges he faces as Africa's biggest economy heads towards recession.

Former South African leader Nelson Mandela, considered a symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle, attended the presidential inauguration ceremony, in a huge political coup for Zuma.

That Zuma, 67, would take the oath of office before heads of state was unthinkable during turbulent years when corruption and rape charges nearly ruined him, crises that would have buried many politicians.

While Zuma promised to help South Africans realise their dreams, he took a sober view of the country's economy which may already be in its first recession in 17 years.

"We must acknowledge that we find ourselves in difficult economic times. Jobs are being lost in every economy across the world," Zuma said in his inauguration speech.

"We will not be spared the negative impact, and are beginning to feel the pinch."

Zuma, who won a landslide election victory last month with the African National Congress (ANC), must now juggle the interests of union and communist allies who helped him rise to the top, and foreign investors who fear he will steer the economy left.

South Africans respect the ANC for its long anti-apartheid struggle but they are growing impatient with rampant poverty and crime, which Zuma has promised to tackle.

Investors are eager to see who forms his economic team and are especially interested in the fate of respected finance minister Trevor Manuel, praised for his fiscal management.

Stacking the cabinet, to be named today, with ANC loyalists could hurt Zuma's credibility.