The 1) ditching of a 2) dismal dynasty restores hope to the rainbow nation

 ON DECEMBER 18th South Africa’s ruling party picked a leader. The new head of the African National Congress (ANC) is Cyril Ramaphosa, one of the handful of heroes who negotiated the peaceful 3) dismantling of 4) apartheid in the 1990s. In 2019 he will probably be elected president of South Africa. It is absurd—and a sign of how 5) poisonous ANC politics have become—that his rivals within his own party 6) dismiss him as a tool of “white monopoly capital”. That he won the party’s top job anyway shows that there is still hope for South Africa.
 The choice should have been simple. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the candidate backed by Jacob Zuma, the country’s current president, promised more of the same. Under Mr Zuma’s administration, corruption 7) thrives, state resources have been 8) looted and democratic institutions have been 9) undermined. By one estimate, as much as 150bn-200bn rand ($11bn-15bn), or 5% of GDP, has been 10) misappropriated. Ms Dlamini-Zuma (who is Mr Zuma’s ex-wife) has remained almost entirely silent about what South Africans call “state capture”. In a 4,200-word speech 11) kicking off her campaign, she did not mention corruption once. Many took this to mean that, if elected, she would shield Mr Zuma from 12) prosecution on the 783 counts of corruption that he faces. She also vowed to 13) curtail the independence of the central bank, put more people on the public 14) payroll, fight the dreaded white monopoly capital and achieve “radical economic transformation” by 15) ramping up state spending and 16) expropriating land, mines and businesses.

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Published: 2017-12-18

Source: The Economist

<Words & Expression>

ditch : 도랑, (--을) 도랑에 빠뜨리다. 버리다, 처분하다.
dismal: 음울한, 참담한
dismantle: (--을) 해체하다, 폐지하다
apartheid: (남아프리카 공화국의) 인종차별정책
poisonous: 유독한, 유해한
dismiss: (--을) 해임하다
thrive: 번성(번창)하다, (동,식물이) 무럭무럭 자라다
loot: (--을) 약탈하다, 부정 취득하다
undermine : (--을) 파괴하다
misappropriate: (--을) 악용하다, (남의 돈을) 착복하다
kick off: 시작하다
prosecution: 기소, 고발
curtail: (--을) 줄이다, 삭감하다
payroll: (종업원의) 급료지급 명부, 급료지급 총액
본문에서 쓰인 “put more people on public payroll” : ‘공적인 종업원의 급료지급 명부에 더 많은 사람들을 두다’ 즉 ‘공무원을 증가시킨다’
ramp up : 증가시키다.
expropriate: (토지, 재산을) (공공의 목적으로) 징발하다, 빼앗다