South Africa's Jacob Zuma

In South Africa, Jacob Zuma, 67, is a charismatic "man of the people," who mingles as easily with the white elite as poor blacks living in shantytowns and rural areas. South African voters are projected to give Zuma's African National Congress (ANC) party an overwhelming majority in parliamentary elections this Wednesday.

Zuma is a polarizing figure, who has been dogged by corruption scandals and other criminal allegations. Unlike his post-apartheid predecessors, such as the legendary resistance fighter Nelson Mandela, Zuma is little known to Europeans.

But he is familiar to foreign investors doing business in Africa's most powerful economy, who worry about the prospect of a Zuma presidency. Since he was once a member of the South African communist party that had ties to the Kremlin, Zuma is viewed abroad as a leftist.

Germany, which is one of South Africa's key trading partners, has been closely following political developments since the recent exit of former president Thabo Mbeki, who presided over South Africa's longest period of economic growth before his forced resignation.

An Africa expert in Berlin however sees Zumo as a clever pragmatist, who is likely to pursue policies similar to the more intellectually inclined Mbeki, whose ouster last September left a caretaker government in power.

Zuma a pragmatist

"I don't see him as a leftist, but South Africa is possibly the most unequal society in the world with a huge social gap between the very rich and the very poor, so Zuma could invest more in social welfare programs than Mbeki, " said Gero Erdmann, an Africa expert at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).

Even though Zuma has been identified with the left, trade unions, labor movements and the like, Erdmann added that his rhetoric is reassuring to the South African business community as well. Although Zumo enjoys support among trade unionists, he has told businessmen that he would not redistribute South Africa's wealth by raising their taxes.

Mandela and Mbeki had already shifted the ANC, South Africa's dominant party since majority black rule in 1994, away from socialism. And Zuma, the self-educated guerrilla fighter who served 10 years on Robben Island prison alongside Mandela during the apartheid era, has also embraced capitalism like his party cohorts.

South Africa's remains regional power player

As the only African state which is a member of the G20 group of the world's industrialized and emerging economies, South Africa strengthened its partnership with the EU last year in Bordeaux, France at a first bilateral summit that went beyond trade and investment issues.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the summit as a "true partnership based on a desire to work together on a whole range of issues - from the food price crisis, climate change, business and migration to peace and security. And there is a specific issue on which we count on South Africa's cooperation, namely Zimbabwe," he said then in a statement.

Zuma, who was present at a gathering of global leaders in Davos last year in his capacity as ANC party leader, had initially accused the US and Europe of hindering South Africa's efforts to mediate a political solution to Zimbabwe's leadership crisis. He had even hinted that the interference of the West in African politics was tinged with racism.

"The US and Europeans tell us what we (Africans) need to do," Zuma told reporters.

Last September, two months after the EU-South Africa summit, a power sharing agreement between Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe and his long-time opposition rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, was brokered by Pretoria.

The European development commissioner, Louis Michel, told the French summit that "as both a regional power and an emerging global player, South Africa is entitled to play an increased role and assume more responsibilities in promoting peace, democracy and sustainable development in Africa."

2010 World Cup

In 2010 when South Africa is to host the World Cup soccer tournament, it will be a chance for Zuma to showcase his country's economic and political progress, according to GIGA's Erdmann.

"The government is building stadiums ahead of schedule and improving security for the games. They'll do better than the world expects," he said.

Author: Diana Fong

Editor: Trinity Hartman