South Africa's Zuma-rang

South African president Thabo Mbeki'sfailure to get re-elected as head of the country's ruling party underlines just how much the leaders who ran the struggle against apartheid under Nelson Mandela have lost touch with their roots. At the annual conference of the African National Congress (ANC), in the northern city of Polokwane, Jacob Zuma, 65, was elected party chief with a 61%-to-39% split on Dec. 18. Now that Zuma has unseated his bitter rival and former boss, his supporters expect him to complete Mbeki's humiliation by replacing him as head of state in the next general election, in 2009.

Zuma's political career has boomeranged from bigwig to pariah and back. Mbeki sacked him as Deputy President in 2005 when Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of soliciting a bribe for him in a French arms deal. Related charges were filed against Zuma on Dec. 14. And though he was acquitted in a rape trial in 2006, his testimony revealed shocking attitudes about sex and AIDS, including an admission that he had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman but showered afterward to reduce the risk of infection.

Zuma's extraordinary comeback--he was recently endorsed by the ANC Women's League--is testament to the anger the aloof Mbeki arouses in the party's rank and file. At the ANC conference, delegates booed him and drowned out his allies with songs supporting Zuma, whose rejection by South Africa's élite has made him a hero to the poor. The constitution prevents Mbeki from running for re-election, but Zuma will also be barred if he is convicted of corruption. That means South Africa's leadership could hinge on whether its new top politician is on his way to the presidency or to jail.