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Jacob Zuma: the controversial favourite for South Africa's presidency
JACOB
Zuma, South Africa's popular but controversial ruling party chief, is
the favourite to become the country's next president, but must first
survive corruption charges against him.
Zuma, 66, entered the dock on Monday in his long-awaited trial as hundreds of his vocal supporters gathered outside to denounce the case against him as politically motivated.
It was the latest in a series of controversies involving the head of the African National Congress, who toppled President Thabo Mbeki as party chief in December.
His fiery style has drawn many detractors, but also intensely committed supporters, including the head of the ANC's youth league, Julius Malema, who said in June he was "prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma."
An ethnic Zulu, Zuma has taken an avowedly populist approach to politics.
Idolised by his mostly leftist backers as a champion of the poor, the ever-smiling Zuma has unnerved the markets and the ANC old guard who recall the disciplined nature of the movement when it was at the vanguard of the fight against apartheid.
Under the whites-only apartheid rule, Zuma spent some 10 years in prison alongside former president Nelson Mandela on the notorious Robben Island penal colony.
Like Mandela, he has an instinctive rapport with the people characterised by his tendency to break into dance often accompanied by supporters singing his signature tune "Umshini Wami" (Zulu for "Bring Me My Machine-Gun").
"In Zuma we see ourselves, we see humility, down to earth. We see somebody we can speak to, who has a genuine love for people," said Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a Zuma ally.
Even Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu concedes Zuma is a "likeable" person, but with a track record that would "shame" the country were he to become president.
He was fired by Mbeki as deputy head of state in June 2005 after his financial adviser was jailed for canvassing bribes for him.
In 2006, he was acquitted of rape but ridiculed for testifying in court that after having had consensual sex with his HIV-positive accuser, he believed taking a shower after sex was sufficient protection against infection. He was head of the National AIDS Council at the time.
If he survives the ongoing graft trial, and given the ANC's dominance over its political rivals, Zuma should normally be set to become head of state when Mbeki's two-term stint comes to an end next year.
Zuma, who has always claimed his innocence, has promised to step down if the court convicts him.
"If I'm taken to court and the judge says 'Zuma, we find you guilty', as I walk out of court I will say to the ANC 'I'm stepping down'," Zuma said in a radio interview.
Born in rural Inkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, Zuma, the son of a domestic worker, had no formal schooling.
He joined the ANC in 1958 and was convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government five years later, serving 10 years on Robben Island.
He went into exile for 12 years in Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia -- where he was the ANC's chief of intelligence.
Zuma returned to
South Africa after a ban on the ANC was lifted in 1990, and was a key
figure in talks with the National Party regime that led to a negotiated
national unity government. - AFP
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