* Calls grow for ANC to return to founding values
* Corruption endemic in South Africa
* ANC beset by factional fighting
* Political dominance assured, for now
(Adds Zuma quotes)
By Pascal Fletcher
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa, Jan 8 (Reuters) – A black
bull bellows and snorts in its death throes, sacrificed with a
ceremonial spear in an age-old African cleansing ritual to ward
off evil spirits and appease the souls of ancestors.
South African President Jacob Zuma led the purification
ceremony at the weekend at the site where the ruling party he
leads, the African National Congress (ANC), was born 100 years
ago. The birth launched decades of exile, protest and armed
struggle that finally ended apartheid white-minority rule in
1994, when elections ushered in a multi-racial democracy.
“It’s important that it be cleansed,” said Baba Ndungane, a
Zulu “sangoma” or traditional healer, speaking near the Waaihoek
Wesleyan Church.
The brick, tin-roofed building where a century ago Africa’s
oldest liberation movement was formed in a black township in the
city of Bloemfontein is now dwarfed by the looming towers of a
disused power station.
Continued…
