African National Congress

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.

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.

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)."

A High Court judge dismissed corruption charges Wednesday against Jacob Zuma, opening the way for the controversial former deputy president to make a bid for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress next year and the presidency in 2009. Zuma's political ambitions suffered a blow last year when he was dismissed as deputy president, then faced corruption charges and later a rape charge.

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.

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 deputy leader of the governing African National Congress party, Jacob Zuma, once seen as the potential political heir to South Africa's president, appeared in court Tuesday on charges that he raped a family friend after inviting her to his home and offering her a massage. The accusation follows Zuma's removal in June from the post of deputy president in the wake of corruption charges.

Officials in South Africa's capital voted to rename the city Tshwane, retaining the name Pretoria for the city center only. The decision was taken at a special meeting of the metropolitan council, dominated by the African National Congress. The South African Geographic Names Council, which has the final say, is expected to give its assent. Tshwane, which means "We are the same," was the name used by some of the region's earliest African settlers.

The African National Congress government was headed Thursday for a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, its best result since the end of apartheid, despite high unemployment, poverty and an AIDS crisis. With more than three-quarters of the vote counted, the ANC was edging close to 70% of the vote, well above its support in 1994 when voters swept the white minority government away in the nation's first all-race elections. In that poll the ANC won 63%.

The dominant African National Congress was expected to coast to victory in Wednesday's parliamentary elections despite indications of voter apathy, particularly among jobless young people. Ten years after the end of the apartheid system, the loyalty of blacks to the party of liberation was clear in the queues of people lining up from dawn.