Regional politics

I have been requested to give some thoughts on the political troubles in South Africa (for those who don't know the ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) forced out its president about two weeks ago and people within the ANC, which was one of the main anti-apartheid liberation groups, are threatening to split off and form their own party). So, here goes. In my day-to-day life, I really don't hear much talk about this from Basotho, some chatter in the expatriate community here, but most of them watch or listen to too much BBC or CNN anyway! The Lesotho press (yes, there actually is some here and the quality of the English-language weekly newspapers is noticably higher than it is has ever been in my time here with choices for your news) had an interesting editorial page this week with a staff editorial telling South Africa to get its dogs in order because any instability there will hurt the region, and it is the smaller countries that depend on South Africa that will be hurt most, just as the exporting border regions of Mexico feel an American economic downturn faster than small-town and big-city Americans. Right next to that, however, was an analysis piece from a South African journalist arguing (again, correctly I think) that the ANC members who are threatening to form their own party don't have the grass-roots organization behind them to start a new party that will be successful. Despite the split in the ANC leadership, the people are still strongly behind the ANC and many would rather not vote than vote for the mainly ineffective opposition parties. There really is no one in the ANC right now who has the stature to move off, form a splinter party and bring people with him or her (except, of course Nelson Mandela, who at age 90 might just be the most popular ex-politican on the planet and certainly in South Africa...he could win any race he wanted, but he is also extremely frail and has no desire to do anything with politics). So, while the ANC has problems (both in its structures and leadership), it will likely continue to rattle off electoral victories, including next year's general election, without any real serious opposition (I don't know what the various opposition parties have, but it can't be more than about 35-40% of the Parliament combined).
On a very weird note with all this political turmoil (the ruling party here in Lesotho is threatening to split as well ahead of a Party Congress in January to elect new leadership) and the global financial meltdown going on around us, one currency the US Dollar is really strengthening against is the South African rand, so I find my purchasing power growing rapidly. Last week my dollar bought 8.2 rand while today the rate stands at 9.2. Crazy stuff that I don't claim to understand. Hope everyone is well and my political rambling didn't turn you off. I will post some pictures of my new house this weekend and get you back to your regularly scheduled programming!