TO BECOME a leader of South Africa's ruling party takes a talent for speaking sideways. The African National Congress (ANC) forbids open campaigning for leadership positions, a holdover from more secretive times as an underground resistance movement. Instead, during ANC election years such as this one, politicians turn up at a succession of Sunday church services, memorial lectures and funerals of party stalwarts to give thinly disguised stump speeches. The trick is saying enough, but not too much, since flagrant campaigning can mean disciplinary action.
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