Commentariat

Finding a suitable supporting actor can be a hard task for a powerful politician, as South Africa’s Jacob Zuma has found. Unable to take up the President’s job immediately, having finally seen off his rival Thabo Mbeki, the African National Congress’s former intelligence chief picked the loyal, apparently unambitious apparatchik Kgalema Motlanthe as his presidential seat-warmer – until the election expected in April that may finally give Mr Zuma, 63, the top office.