South Africa plunges into political crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1660515,00.html

South Africa was thrown into political turmoil yesterday when the former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, was charged with rape, a development which has all but eclipsed his chances of leading the country.

The man who once seemed destined to rule the continent's economic and political powerhouse could be jailed for life if convicted of raping a 31-year-old woman at his Johannesburg home last month.

The ruling African National Congress is now riven by its worst convulsions since taking power in 1994, and institutions such as the prosecuting authority and the intelligence services have also been dragged into the affair.

The political turmoil has exposed rancour within the former liberation movement over the enrichment of a small group of individuals favoured in the name of racial empowerment. Mr Zuma's allies were leading critics of the "waBenzi", a derogatory term for the newly flush class of people who drive Mercedes Benz.

We let anybody be President here.

screw it up. is this guy any kin to bush.