The political split in South Africa's rainbow

By Daniel Nelson When campaigners despair of success they need only recall the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa to renew their belief and optimism. But as the voiceover in Behind the Rainbow declares at the end of the documentary, “South Africa is no longer the world’s greatest fairytale.” Thank goodness, you might think, because fairy tales aren’t true. One of the biggest factors in bringing the country back to reality was the power struggle between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, and the former’s ousting by the latter. The film sets out to tell and explain the battle for the soul of the African National Congress (ANC), from the mid-1970s and the days the two men shared a prison cell. It’s approach is conventional: talking heads interspersed with TV footage, linked by a voice-over. But it’s absorbing and clear and an excellent summary of South Africa’s recent, momentous history, even if director Jihan El-Tahri claims, "There is nothing objective; it's my story. The angle is mine, the choices are mine." So though it won’t win awards for groundbreaking documentary-making and it’s long - 2 hour 20 minutes – it is genuinely informative and revealing, thanks largely to the insight, intelligence and lucidity of the senior ANC politicians interviewed. There are gaps, of course, such as the film’s failure to explain the relationship of the South African Communist Party to the ANC. But the big events are there – the decision to leave many of the structures of the old regime in place, Mbeki’s “African renaissance” (and its link with military restocking), arms purchase scandals, the new economic policy, Zuma’s trials. Despite the detail, it’s not really clear why the two men fell out, other than their starkly different styles - Mbeki’s stiffness and Zuma’s populism. In that sense, the film could have been much shorter. But then it would have lacked the historical sweep that provides its force. Mbeki’s main legacy might one day be seen as the manner of his going, voluntarily and calmly. It turned potential political disaster – his departure before the end of his term of office – into a political pacify. For Zuma’s legacy, we will have to wait. * Behind the Rainbow will be screened at the London Film Festival on 22, 23 and 25 October.

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