GRAHAMSTOWN - Stunned supporters of South African President Thabo Mbeki said he had brought defeat on himself in the contest for leadership of the ruling ANC.
A day after Mbeki's bitter rival Jacob Zuma took over as ANC head, Mbeki's followers in the Eastern Cape, his power baseand heartland of his Xhosa tribe, could hardly believe that he and all his party lieutenants had been swept from power.
"How could he allow this to happen to him? Being humiliated like this," said Phelela, an Mbeki supporter who declined to give her surname.
"We thought the president knew better than insisting on standing in these elections despite advice from colleagues not to do so," she said, her voice choking with emotion.
Mbeki went ahead with his bid for a third term as ANC leader despite strong predictions that he would be humiliated by Zuma. Now there are fears that he will be a lame duck for the remaining 18 months of his term as head of state.
Zoleka Mapasa, an office administrator in Grahamstown, blamed Mbeki's defeat on his "failure to keep in touch with the grass roots", and said even the Eastern Cape had found it necessary to desert him:
"He was out of touch with what was happening on the ground, but his opponent kept a close ear to the grass roots."
The Eastern Cape, a vast swathe of dry land flanking the Indian Ocean from Port Elizabeth in the south to Port Edward in the north, is the birthplace of Mbeki and his political mentor, Nelson Mandela, both from the ethnic Xhosa group that has long dominated the ANC.
Mbeki, head of the ANC since 1997, and his top five lieutenants all lost their places on the ANC executive in Tuesday's election.
In Grahamstown, a university town 120km northeast of Port Elizabeth, many people were angry at the passing of the leadership to Zuma, a Zulu, when Mbeki has presided over nine years of unbroken economic growth.
"What can Zuma put on the table in terms of growing the economy except being a comrade?" Mapasa said.
Zuma's close ties with trade unions and the Communist Party, have sparked fears he will tilt South Africa to the left.
"I can't even imagine where we go to from here," Mapasa said.
