Zuma’s presence has come to symbolise a strand of tradition that stretches back, not only to the origins of the ANC but also to the birth of the national liberation movement as a whole. For tens of thousands of black workers, militant youths, the jobless, the homeless and almost hopeless, he stands for mass solidarity, popular democracy, egalitarianism and the prospective fulfi lment of the long-promised ‘better life for all’.

Anthony Holiday