He took the oath in front of 5,000 invited guests and crowds of supporters who had gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for the ceremony. In a speech, he described it as a “moment of renewal” for South Africa, and vowed to work for reconciliation. Correspondents described a festive atmosphere in the capital that was not dampened by earlier rain and cold.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Jacob Zuma took the presidential oath Saturday and became leader of the continent’s economic powerhouse after overcoming corruption and sex scandals and a struggle for control of his party.
Zuma, the fourth president since apartheid ended 15 years ago, enjoys a popularity often compared to Nelson Mandela’s. Many impoverished black South Africans believe Zuma’s personal battles and eventual triumph give him special insight into their own struggles and aspirations.
Zuma survived corruption and sex scandals and an internal power struggle so vicious it led to a split in his African National Congress party. The ANC won last month’s parliamentary elections and Zuma was elected president by parliament on Wednesday. [ READ MORE ]
PICTURE: Jacob Zuma is sworn in as president of South Africa by Chief Justice Pius Langa (L) as former South African President Thabo Mbeki (R) and his wife Zanele look on in Pretoria May 9, 2009. Zuma was sworn in as South African president on Saturday after a remarkable political comeback and quickly highlighted the challenges he faces as Africa’s biggest economy heads towards recession.
PICTURE: Newly installed South African President Jacob Zuma (right) greets Nelson Mandela during Zuma’s inauguration at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, May 9, 2009.
[PIC]: A Zuma Supporter in Traditional Xhosa Dress Smokes A Pipe.
The Daily Mail: The 67-year-old enjoys a popularity often compared to Nelson Mandela as many impoverished black South Africans believe that his personal battles and eventual triumph give him special insight into their own struggles and aspirations.
Mr Mokoena said that while Zuma may not have had much formal education, his leadership of the ANC’s intelligence wing during the anti-apartheid struggle was proof he was smart enough to be president.
Mandela and Zuma share rural roots and an easy warmth in crowds, though Zuma’s origins are much humbler.
Mandela, 90, has ties to Xhosa tribal royalty and was groomed for leadership from an early age, attending some of the best schools and universities then open to blacks, earning a law degree.
Zuma herded cows instead of attending school as a boy, and began working as a teen to help his impoverished family. He later rose through the trade union movement and the African National Congress guerrilla force.
Jacob Zuma sworn in as S Africa leader (Coverage of Swearing In Ceremony)
Okech Kendo Post-apartheid South Africa’s next president is certain to be an unlikely occupant of the office. And not just because Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, also known by his clan name Msholozi, lacks the stature or polish of Nelson Mandela, or the intellectual deceit and accomplishments of Thabo Mbeki.
Zuma falls much below their moral and intellectual par, yet he is ahead of many. This is probably because of coincidence or too frequently being underestimated because of his dismal formal education. The Zulu Boy – and Zuma is a child of that flamboyant, masculine and military community – counts Shaka, the empire destroyer, among his ancestors, if only through ethnic affinity. Indeed, a Zulu was always coming to be president of independent South Africa, given their numerical strength in the tribe-and-race-defined country.
But few would imagine the inheritor would be Zuma, in an age when the influence of western education is dominant. Zuma often thinks less of himself, almost in a self-deprecatory way, sometimes to spite others who think they are highbred.
While in South Africa early this month, I entered a bookshop at Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg to buy a book I could not find in Nairobi. Michaela Wrong’s John Githongo-inspired It is Our Turn To Eat was priced at 270 Rand (about Sh2,700), so I picked a copy of Jeremy Gordin’s Zuma: A Biography instead.
A woman at the counter was baffled with my selection and my remark I wanted to read about “the next president of South Africa.” It was obvious she and her kind would stop a Zuma presidency if they could.
Jacob Zuma, Left With Zulu Elders
Even with a history of sexual adventurism, a high profile case of like nature, and other related moral questions about the Zulu Boy, Zuma’s presidential stream is unstoppable. The majority of those who matter in a democracy are with him, so no rich Afrikaan racists can stop him. Not even the wealthy, powerful elite of his mentor Mbeki can stop him.
Minor river
Asked why he was not popular with writers, Zuma told Gordin: “Why should anyone write about me? I’m not an important person. I’m not from a politically famous or royal family. I am not an influential businessman. I’m just an ordinary person.”
Mandela is from a royal Xhosa family. Thabo Mbeki, his successor, is from a political family, son of Govan Mbeki, an ANC founder member. One of Zuma’s possible rivals in future is Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC insider and successful entrepreneur who might have succeeded Mandela. (Ramaphosa, by the way, is the negotiator PNU rejected last year, claiming he could not assist Dr Kofi Annan because he is close to ODM leader Raila Odinga.)
In Khrushchev: The Man, His Era, William Taubman echoes the Zuma narrative, particularly his relationship with Mbeki.
The story goes: “‘Once upon a time,’ (Nikita) Khrushchev said, ‘there were three men in a prison: A social democrat, an anarchist and a humble little Jew – a half-educated fellow named Pinya. They decided to elect a cell leader to watch over the distribution of food, tea and tobacco.
“The anarchist, a big burly fellow, was against electing authority. To show his contempt for law and order, he proposed that the semi-educated Jew be elected.
“Things went well until they decided to escape. They realised that the first man to go through the tunnel would be shot at by the guard. They all turned to the big brave anarchist. But he was afraid to go.
Suddenly, poor little Pinya drew himself up and said: ‘Comrades, you elected me by a democratic process as your leader. Therefore, I will go first’.”
The moral: However humble a man’s beginning, he achieves the stature of the office to which he is elected. Pinya could be Zuma, the son of a KwaZulu Natal policeman and a maid. He never had formal education. The brutality of his boyhood saw him take up casual labour in Boer homes. His father died before Zuma, barely a baby, understood the cruelty around him. The brutality shaped his boyhood, and would lead him to detention in Robben Island for ten years.
His wedding with the ANC is the subject of legend. He enlisted at age 17. In 1991, when ANC was looking for someone to lead the party in talks with FW De Clerk’s National Party and Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party, it was a gesture from ANC president Oliver Tambo that did it. Tired and sick then, Tambo was seen to have pointed his stick at Zuma and no one wanted to contradict him.
When Mbeki picked Zuma as deputy president, he underrated his worth. He figured that Zuma would have no ambition for the highest office. How wrong he was: Zulu Boy is in after he ejected Mbeki from ANC!
About The Author: Okech Kendo is The Standard’s Managing Editor, Quality and Production. Contact: ken...@eastandard.net
Mystery surrounds spouses of polygamist president-in-waiting Zuma. With Zuma’s African National Congress party’s overwhelming victory in the parliamentary election, the first lady question is making headlines. Parliament elects South Africa’s president, putting Zuma in line for the post when the new assembly votes in May.
KWANXAMALALA, South Africa – There’s little question who will lead South Africa (after last Wednesday’s national election). The real mystery lies in who will be the country’s first lady.
As Jacob Zuma, the man preordained to be the country’s next president, voted in his rural Zulu homeland Wednesday, one of his two current wives stood to the side watching patiently as he was mobbed by cheering crowds and reporters.
But Nompumelelo Ntuli, 34, Zuma’s newest and youngest wife, was soon attracting her own crowd of admirers. Women whispered, “Isn’t she beautiful!” as Ntuli decked out in an apricot and blue tie-dye outfit beamed happily.
“Jesus is Lord!” is all she would say in response to questions.
Zuma, 67, a Zulu traditionalist and an unabashed polygamist, has married at least four women over the years. Only two are still with him: Sizakele Khumalo, whom he married in 1973, and Ntuli, who he wed last year.
PIC: ANC president Jacob Zuma’s youngest wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli, 34, after her husband
cast his ballot for general elections in the village of KwaNxamalala, South Africa, on Wednesday.
Of the other two, Kate Mantsho Zuma, committed suicide in 2000. He divorced the other, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, in 1998, although she remains a trusted aide and as the country’s foreign affairs minister is expected to join his cabinet. He is said to have more than 10 children.
Multiple wives legal
South African law recognizes such traditional marriages, though fewer and fewer younger South Africans are entering into them because they are seen as expensive and old-fashioned. It remains common among several tribes, though, including the Zulus and Swazis.
To this point, neither of his wives has played much of a public role in his life or politics.
Khumalo presides over the family compound near the school where Zuma voted in KwaNxamalala (pronounced KWAH-nxah-mah-lah-lah). She is known to be shy, and was not spotted Wednesday.
Ntuli, who uses her maiden name as is customary in polygamous marriages to differentiate among the wives, has been slightly more active outside the home. She organized a prayer meeting in southeastern South Africa earlier this year, calling for political tolerance, and established a community development foundation.
With Zuma’s African National Congress party’s overwhelming victory in the parliamentary election, the first lady question is making headlines. Parliament elects South Africa’s president, putting Zuma in line for the post when the new assembly votes in May.
Neither Zuma or the ANC have offered any answers to the question, saying the matter of his marriages is personal.
The Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa quoted Don Mkhwanazi, a trustee of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, as saying Zuma most likely will be guided by tradition and choose his first wife, Sizakele, to act in that capacity.
Usually unaccompanied
Zuma usually is unaccompanied at official functions. His daughter Dudzile, a staunch supporter who has been seen on the campaign trail recording his activities with a small video camera, also could be a possible official escort.
Zuma, of course, would not be the first leader in the world with more than one wife. In the Gulf, the number of a ruler’s wives and who among them is paramount are a constant source of rumors. Publicly known first ladies in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and even Saudi Arabia do charity work and some are outspoken women’s rights’ activists ? though their pictures never appear in the newspapers.
In recent years, rulers in Dubai and in Qatar each have designated one of their wives to speak at U.S. universities and international humanitarian foundations on pressing issues concerning the Arab world and its relations with the West.
Zuma’s father, who also had multiple wives, was a policeman who died when he was a boy. His mother worked as a maid in the coastal city of Durban. He was denied a formal education and by 15 he was doing odd jobs to help support his family.
Zuma joined the ANC in 1959 and by 21 he was arrested while trying to leave the country illegally. He was jailed for 10 years on Robben Island, alongside Mandela and other heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. In prison, Zuma resumed his schooling and began making a name for himself among ANC prisoners.
He left South Africa in 1975 for 15 years of exile in neighboring Swaziland, Mozambique and Zambia, where he was appointed chief of the ANC’s intelligence department. Following the lifting of the ANC ban in 1990, Zuma was one of the first of the group’s leaders to return to South Africa.
Khumalo stayed with him despite those long absences.
At a small market in Eshowe, a town near Zuma’s homestead, vendors selling oranges, avocados, pineapples and bananas were more interested in chorusing a long list of woes facing South Africa than the question of who would be its first lady.
After all, post-apartheid South Africa has never really had an American-style first lady in the glamorous mode of a Michelle Obama or Jackie Kennedy, or the policy-engaged model of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
One of the market vendors, Phindile Mbatha, 21, said she thought Dlamini Zuma would make a fine first lady.
Told that Jacob Zuma had divorced her some 10 years ago, Mbatha then declared that maybe the country did not need a first lady after all.
Ruling African National Congress officials predict a crushing victory. Results of the Wednesday vote are expected by Saturday at the earliest. Members of parliament will elect the president next month.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) — Votes were still being counted Friday in South Africa’s parliamentary elections, but the ruling African National Congress was already celebrating what party officials predicted will be a crushing victory.
Presumed president-to-be Jacob Zuma — an ethnic Zulu whose flamboyant style sits in contrast to more staid predecessors Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki — led a raucous rally in Johannesburg Thursday, telling thousands of cheering supporters the ANC will outstrip its goal of two-thirds control in parliament.
“The ANC will never go above 60 percent — that’s what they were saying,” Zuma said. “The counting is still continuing and I smell 70 percent.” — [ READ MORE ]
Zuma’s presidency will be calamitous — He is supremely unsuitable to be the president of any country, leave alone South Africa with its past tortured history and promising future. He will take South Africa down the ruinous road tin-god dictators with similar background took their countries in Africa. — Abdulahi Ahmednasir
Jacob Zuma, the president of the Africa National Congress (ANC) and South Africa’s president-in-waiting is the quintessential African politician. Only that he is late to the scene by 30 years. He is rough.He is randy. His sexual escapades, which he wears on his sleeves, are well documented. He has many wives. His first wife committed suicide. In the last written note testimony authored, she blamed Zuma for her death. He famously said as a Zulu man he never seduces a woman to have sex. He simply knows from the way the woman sits whether she is inviting him to have sex or not. Once he notices the lady’s posture, he proceeds accordingly depending on his dress mode, by either unzipping his trouser or more easily by throwing to the side the skin garment loosely dangling around his waist.
Things being equal, he will be crowned the next president of South Africa. This is the same man who famously said by taking a shower after unsafe sex he will be protect himself from contracting Aids! There is no doubt Zuma presents Africa’s past, not its future leaders. With a mindset of this nature, South Africans are waiting for a threatening hurricane, and they are not blinking yet. Africa’s fascination with the ugly, the bully, and rowdy leaders has for a long time fascinated anthropologists and South African’s flirtation with Zuma falls into the same setup.
The events that led to the resignation of Thabo Mbeki as South Africa’s president has shown the intriguing nature of politics in South Africa. On one side the orderly transfer of power to the interim president, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe and the sweeping edicts from the higher echelons of the ANC was breathtaking.
This is the oldest political party on the continent, and by recalling the president in a most undignified style, it showed how power is not only wield, but its filtering process was brutally on display too.
Mbeki despite his intellectual aura has the charisma of an undertaker and that did not help.
The enormity of power displayed by the ANC in recalling president Mbeki must be appreciated at several levels. First, it must be acknowledged especially in this part of the world that a party with historic continuity and memory is good for the politics of any country. ANC has shown that it has structures, and that it has teeth to bite. In Kenya for instance, where the average lifespan of a political party is three to five years and the party dies and a new one created as a result of ethnic reconfiguration, ANC’s power structure and discipline was poignant lesson for local politicians.
Second, Mbeki by answering the call of his party in throwing in the towel showed the maturity of politics in South Africa. He definitely has his support within the party.
Nelson Mandela
He could have counterattacked the Kenyan way by shouting loud that foreign money was poured to fight him or even go personal with Zuma. Remember, he won over forty percent of the vote during the leadership contest for the president of the ANC when he lost to Zuma.
Third, the silence of the great man Nelson Mandela was telling. He simply kept mum, not because he was for either side of the political divide. No! As a dignified ex-president he knows his role as an elder statesman and left politics to politicians.
That was an excellent lesson for those retired presidents with itchy fingers for powers like Jerry Rawling of Ghana.
Zuma’s ascendancy to the pinnacle of political power is a cruel reply of what has happened in other African countries in the 1980s and 90s. He has faced all kinds of allegations ranging from corruption in an arms deal to a rape allegation.
On corruption, we see a replay of the typical African politician’s strategy. Zuma had a financial adviser who was convicted and is currently serving sentence for his role in the corrupt arms deal. Zuma was heavily implicated as an accomplice by the judge who sentenced his adviser. He was then rightly fired as vice president. Pursuant to that, the government undertook investigation and referred criminal charges against Zuma. Being the typical African politician, he frustrated the legal process in all manners conceivable. Challenging and appealing every decision made against him by any court. At the same time, he was fermenting the party against Mbeki.
Zuma’s presidency will be calamitous. He is supremely unsuitable to be the president of any country, leave alone South Africa with its past tortured history and promising future. He will take South Africa down the ruinous road tin-god dictators with similar background took their countries in Africa.
With a party that sees his weakness and vices as the archetypical African male strengths, one will soon see the replay of unsavoury scenes reminiscent in other parts of Africa replayed gleefully by Zuma and his supporting orchestra. What is South Africa’s enthralment with this horrid character and his seedy past?
About The Author: Abdulahi Ahmednasir — is a lawyer and former Law Society of Kenya chairman. Contact him at: (ahmednasir[at]ahmedabdi.com) | More Articles By Ahmednasir |
Post-apartheid South Africa’s next president is certain to be an unlikely occupant of the office. And not just because Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, also known by his clan name Msholozi, lacks the stature or polish of Nelson Mandela, or the intellectual deceit and accomplishments of Thabo Mbeki.
