African National Congress

African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma withdrew Wednesday from a charity fundraising banquet honoring former boxer Mike Tyson after being criticized by South African women's groups. Reporters arriving at the event were handed a statement from organizers saying Zuma "had been called away on urgent ANC business." The banquet featured an auction of Tyson items to benefit children's organizations. Women's groups had called on Zuma to withdraw from the event.

As a defense attorney in one of the world's crime capitals, Sanele Mtshazo said his greatest asset was police bungling: In nearly every case, there was botched evidence or missing fingerprint, ballistics or DNA reports. Often he ruefully watched someone he had defended walk free, and thought, "That one should have gone to jail." Once, it was a man he thought had raped a child.

Jacob Zuma has a problem: He scares some people. The leader of the ruling African National Congress, now in line to become South Africa's next president, faces unresolved corruption allegations, never tested in court. He has advocated virginity tests, opposed gay marriage and supported reinstating the death penalty. The country's leading financial journal, the Financial Mail, famously headlined his political rise with the words "Be Afraid."

South African President Thabo Mbeki received a stinging rebuff Sunday from supporters of his bitter rival, Jacob Zuma, in the lead-up to a crucial leadership vote at the national conference of the ruling African National Congress. Moments after Mbeki's speech, his last chance to win over support, thousands of delegates signaled their disapproval by standing up and singing Zuma's trademark song, "Umshini Wami," which loosely translates as "Bring Me My Machine (Gun)."

Populist Jacob Zuma overcame allegations of corruption and rape to win the leadership of South Africa's governing party Tuesday, putting the candidate of the country's poor and angry townships on course to become the next president. The vote represents a dramatic shift for South Africa, where Nelson Mandela and his successor, the elegant and intellectual President Thabo Mbeki, presided over an era of remarkable political and economic stability after the end of apartheid in 1994.

A top prosecutor said Thursday that South Africa's controversial new president-in-waiting, Jacob Zuma, could be charged with corruption within weeks, an action that could threaten Zuma's bid to take over the country's leadership.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, speaking publicly for the first time since losing his post as leader of the ruling party, pledged Friday to serve out his term in office, which ends in 2009. His defeat this week at an acrimonious conference of the African National Congress had raised speculation that he could be forced from office. "I have no reason to assume that there would be anything that would stop the government serving the full term for which it was elected," Mbeki said.

Jacob Zuma, who swept to victory last week as leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress party, was charged with corruption Friday, in a setback that could thwart his ambitions to rule the country. The populist Zuma trounced South African President Thabo Mbeki in the ANC leadership contest even though the corruption case against him has been dragging on for years. Officials of the National Prosecuting Authority announced last week that they had sufficient evidence to charge Zuma.

When it rains in this sprawling slum outside Johannesburg, the streets become gray rivers that turn dirt roads into impassable muck. With no drains, the water soaks through the garbage rotting on roadsides and washes it through the town. Tens of thousands of people live here in rough, corrugated iron shacks, and even that right usually has to be purchased with a hefty bribe to the appropriate official, locals say.

The ruling African National Congress has a nickname for Helen Zille, the new opposition mayor of Cape Town: "Godzille." The ANC had never lost power in a democratic election until Zille's diverse coalition won municipal elections here in March. Since then, local ANC leaders have trumpeted their determination to get rid of the "monster" destroying the city.