VOA常速英语2007年-South Africa's ANC to Choose Leaders, Review Po

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
13 November 2007

Next month, South Africa's African National Congress will hold its national conference to endorse¹ policy decisions taken earlier this year and to elect leaders, including the party president who, since the end of apartheid, has gone on to become the president of the nation. VOA's Delia Robertson looks ahead to the conference.

Perhaps unlike any previous national gathering² of the African National Congress, next month's deliberations will distill³ down to one major issue for delegates: the election of the party's leaders and, particularly, the party president for the next five years.

As analyst⁴ Aubrey Matshiqi of the independent Center for Policy Studies explains, becoming president of the ANC can be key in eventually becoming president of South Africa.

"So there is the expectation that the person who is elected president of the ANC in December, if that person is not Thabo Mbeki, who cannot seek re-election as head-of-state, in terms of our constitution, that person is likely to be head-of-state in 2009," said Matshiqi.

The battle lines for the presidential contest this December were already drawn⁵ in 2005, when President Thabo Mbeki fired Jacob Zuma from his post as deputy president of South Africa. Zuma's financial adviser⁶, Shabir Shaik, had been convicted on charges of corruption⁷, relating to money paid to Zuma.

At first, the decision seemed to deal a fatal blow to Zuma's presidential aspirations⁸. But if President Mbeki expected his ambitious deputy to quietly fade into political obscurity, he was wrong.

At a meeting of ANC leaders in 2005, Zuma outmaneuvered President Mbeki to retain his post of deputy president of the party. And, although he denies he has presidential ambitions, he has been engaged in a well-organized and well-funded campaign for the top party job and, by extension, the presidency⁹ of the country.

There is less clarity on why President Mbeki continues to compete for the party leadership. Some say it is because he is reluctant to give up his grip on power and wishes to remain as king-maker within the party. Others, like Mark Gevisser, the author of the just released biography, Thabo Mbeki, the Dream Deferred¹⁰, say it is because he does not feel his work to free and redeem¹¹ his people is done. Gevisser says it is also because President Mbeki does not trust Zuma with the future of South Africa.

"I think he is genuinely, he and the people around him, are genuinely absolutely horrified¹² about what might happen if a Zuma presidency were to take over," he said. "I think they think that, if Jacob Zuma becomes president of South Africa, it will be a dream shattered, never mind deferred."

Complicating¹³ Zuma's aspirations is the possibility corruption charges will be reinstated against him. He denies the charges which flow from the 2005 conviction of his former financial advisor¹⁴. The judge in that case said Zuma intervened to secure business contracts for his advisor and that the only way he could do that was to use his political office. Zuma says the allegations are part of a conspiracy¹⁵ to keep him from higher office, and that the money he got was a gesture between good friends.

The contest between these two individuals has become increasingly bitter and has caused unprecedented¹⁶ divisions in the ANC, so much so that, in recent weeks, some party elders have broken with the tradition of solving problems behind closed doors. Instead, they have publicly entreated¹⁷ the protagonists¹⁸ to step aside and allow others, such as businessman Cyril Ramaphosa, to step forward.

Professor Sipho Seepe of Henley Management College says it is a view fast winning favor among ANC members, who fear an unseemly spectacle at the conference and who are asking what long-term impact it would have on the ANC.

"When they do that, it will come down to the notion that Mbeki's presidency and Zuma's behavior in the past are part of the divisive elements within the top leadership in the ANC," said Seepe. "And, what we are seeing is a very strong indication that another candidate must be sought other than these two."

Zuma, a populist leader, draws much of his support from the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, the ANC's alliance partners.

They oppose Mr. Mbeki's economic policies, which they say have enriched the elite¹⁹ and are not friendly to workers or the poor, a view disputed by some economic analysts²⁰. Analyst Seepe notes that, at the ANC's June policy conference, delegates already agreed to strengthen existing welfare elements within in the ruling party's economic framework.

"There is a view around especially the economic policy that it did seem to express what was already happening, more of an interventionist type of government that will intervene on the side and in the interests of the poor; which the government has actually done," he added.

But, as analyst Matshiqi notes, few dispute the deepening links between political power and wealth that Zuma's supporters believe are the result of Mr. Mbeki's economic policies.

"And, what this means is that, unlike in the past, access to political power is no longer an end in itself, but has become the means toward the achievement of personal interests of an economic nature," continued Matshiqi. "And, for me, this is the major complication, this change in the relationship between the ANC and its members on one hand and state power, on the other."

Like Zuma, some of his supporters in the labor²¹ movement have also benefited from the financial largesse²² of powerful business leaders. However, they do not seem to be troubled by the apparent incongruity²³ between these gifts and their opposition²⁴ to Mr. Mbeki's policies. Analysts say it will be interesting to see which conference delegates seek to fine-tune those policies to prevent such conflicts of interest arising in the future and which seek a major overhaul²⁵ of the government's economic policies.

1 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 distill   

vt.蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取，吸取，提炼

参考例句：

• This standard set determine the method of petroleum products distill.本标准规定了测定石油产品蒸馏的方法。
• Distill the crucial points of the book.从书中提炼出关键的几点。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

11 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。

12 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

13 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

14 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

15 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

16 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

17 entreated   

恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They entreated and threatened, but all this seemed of no avail. 他们时而恳求，时而威胁，但这一切看来都没有用。
• 'One word,' the Doctor entreated. 'Will you tell me who denounced him?' “还有一个问题，”医生请求道，“你可否告诉我是谁告发他的？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

18 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网

19 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

20 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

21 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

22 largesse   

n.慷慨援助，施舍

参考例句：

• She is not noted for her largesse.没人听说过她出手大方。
• Our people are in no need of richer nations' largesse.我国人民不需要富国的施舍。

23 incongruity   

n.不协调，不一致

参考例句：

• She smiled at the incongruity of the question.面对这样突兀的问题，她笑了。
• When the particular outstrips the general,we are faced with an incongruity.当特别是超过了总的来讲，我们正面临着一个不协调。

24 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

25 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。