Jacob zuma:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Zuma on 9 august

Jacob Zuma, in full Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, (born April 12, 1942, Nkandla, South Africa),
politician who served as president of South Africa from 2009 until he resigned under pressure in
2018. He also had served as the country’s deputy president (1999–2005) and as deputy
president (1997–2007) and president (2007–17) of the country’s ruling party, the African
National Congress (ANC).

Role in the ANC’s fight against apartheid

Zuma received no formal schooling. He joined the ANC in 1959 and its military wing, Umkhonto
we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), in 1962. He was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to 10 years
in prison on Robben Island for conspiring to overthrow South Africa’s apartheid government.
After his release, he set up underground networks to recruit for Umkhonto we Sizwe. In 1975
Zuma fled the country to escape arrest. For more than a decade, he continued to work for the
ANC while based in neighbouring countries—first in Swaziland and then in Mozambique. He
became a member of the ANC’s national executive committee in 1977. After the government of
South Africa exerted pressure on that of Mozambique, Zuma was forced to leave the latter
country in 1987. He then went to ANC headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, where he served as
head of underground structures (organizational units) and head of the intelligence department.

When the South African government’s ban on the ANC was lifted in 1990, Zuma returned to the
country and was elected chairperson of the southern Natal region. He became ANC deputy
general secretary in 1991, and in 1994 he became a member of the executive committee for
economic affairs and tourism in the newly created province of KwaZulu-Natal. In December
1997 he was elected deputy president of the ANC, and in June 1999 he was appointed deputy
president of the country by Pres. Thabo Mbeki.

Legal challenges and conflict with Mbeki

Zuma was widely expected to eventually succeed Mbeki as president of the ANC and as
president of the country. In June 2005, however, Mbeki dismissed him after the fraud and
corruption conviction of one of Zuma’s close colleagues, businessman Schabir Shaik, who had
been accused of soliciting bribes from a French arms company on Zuma’s behalf. The judge in
that case found that there was a generally corrupt relationship between Shaik and Zuma, who
was subsequently charged with two counts of corruption. Zuma initially recused himself from all
ANC activities, but the ANC national general council defied Mbeki by reinstating him as an
active member and, eventually, as ANC deputy president. In March 2006, with the corruption
charges still pending, Zuma faced trial on a rape charge, of which he was acquitted in May. In
September a Durban court struck the corruption case from the roll, stating that the state’s case
was not adequate.

Despite the repeated allegations of wrongdoing—which his many supporters claimed were
politically motivated—Zuma remained a popular figure within the ANC. At the party’s conference
in December 2007, he was selected over Mbeki to be party president in what proved to be one
of the most contentious leadership battles in the ANC’s history. Later that month, Zuma was
recharged with corruption and fraud, and additional charges of money laundering, racketeering,
and tax evasion were brought against him. These charges were eventually dismissed on a legal
technicality in September 2008; prosecutors from the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA)
vowed to appeal the ruling, angering many in the ANC. In addition, the presiding judge said
there was evidence of political interference by Mbeki or his supporters in Zuma’s prosecution,
which ignited even more controversy within the party. Although Mbeki vehemently denied the
allegations, a week later the ANC asked him to resign as president of South Africa, which he
agreed to do.

Although Zuma was widely expected to be chosen as the country’s next president in the 2009
election, he was not eligible to serve as interim president, who under the terms of the
constitution had to be a member of the National Assembly. Zuma ally Kgalema Motlanthe was
the ANC’s candidate for the position, and he was the overwhelming winner in a vote held by the
National Assembly in late September 2008.

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In the weeks leading up to the 2009 general election, the corruption charges against Zuma and
the allegations of political interference were once again in the spotlight, culminating with an
announcement by the NPA on April 6, 2009, that the charges would be withdrawn. Although
prosecutors stated they felt the corruption charges had merit, they noted evidence of
misconduct in the handling of Zuma’s case and cited taped phone conversations that had
recently come to light between the former head of the NPA and the former head of the
Scorpions, an investigative unit that was attached to the NPA before being disbanded in 2009.
The taped conversations included discussion of the timing of the reinstatement of charges
against Zuma shortly after he was named president of the ANC in late 2007. Opposition parties
decried the withdrawal of the charges, claiming that the NPA bowed to pressure from the ANC
to drop the charges before the election and that the question of Zuma’s innocence was still
unresolved. Nevertheless, the ANC performed strongly in the general election held on April 22,
2009, finishing far ahead of the other parties, and Zuma was poised to become the country’s
next president. He was officially elected to the presidency in a National Assembly vote, held on
May 6; he was inaugurated on May 9.

Zuma as president
Zuma adheres to many traditional Zulu customs, including polygamy (more precisely, polygyny).
This has endeared him to some segments of the population but has also been a source of
criticism from others, who find some customs to be at odds with what they consider to be
modern societal norms. Other aspects of his personal life were also subject to criticism: in early
February 2010 there were allegations that Zuma had fathered a child out of wedlock, something
frowned upon in traditional Zulu culture; Zuma admitted that he had. As the controversy
surrounding this incident continued to grow—critics claimed, among other things, that his
behaviour showed a blatant disregard for the country’s HIV/AIDS policies—he apologized for
the distress that his actions had brought to his family, the ANC, and the South African
population.

During his term as president, Zuma was involved in continental affairs, taking a role in mediation
efforts to resolve crises in Africa on behalf of the Southern African Development Community or
African Union, including those in Zimbabwe, Libya, and Côte d’Ivoire. At home, although there
had been some progress made by the government’s antipoverty initiatives, he faced simmering
discontent over the economic inequality still present in the country. He also continued to face
allegations of corruption, which included the reemergence of older charges: in March 2012 the
Supreme Court of Appeal ordered a review by the Pretoria High Court of the 2009 decision by
state prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Zuma. In spite of those troubles, Zuma
was overwhelmingly reelected as president of the ANC at the party’s conference held in
December 2012.

Zuma continued to be affected by allegations of corrupt or unethical behaviour in the following

years. One such example was the controversy generated by the misuse of government
resources that occurred when the Guptas, a wealthy business family with whom he had very
close ties, were allowed to land a private plane at a high-security government air base as they
transported guests to a family wedding in 2013. Zuma denied having anything to do with that,
and one government investigation cleared him of having been involved, but widespread criticism
over the event remained. He also had to deal with allegations of impropriety regarding extensive
state-funded upgrades—ostensibly for security reasons—to his private homestead at Nkandla in
KwaZulu-Natal. Discussions regarding the questionable upgrades first surfaced in late 2009 but
gathered steam in the following years and came to a head when Thuli Madonsela, the country’s
public protector (the national ombudsman), released an official report in March 2014 that
detailed the findings of a two-year investigation. It concluded that many of the publicly funded
improvements made to Zuma’s homestead—such as a swimming pool, an amphitheatre, and a
cattle kraal—were not security-related. Zuma was found to have “benefited unduly” from the
improvements and was called upon to repay a percentage of the costs of the non-security
upgrades.

The economic problems and cloud of corruption did not detract a significant amount of support
from the ANC, which managed to do well in the 2014 elections and virtually guaranteed Zuma a
second term as president. He was officially reelected to the post by the National Assembly on
May 21 and sworn in on May 24.

Nkandla continued to haunt Zuma. Two opposition parties brought a case regarding repayment
to the Constitutional Court, which in March 2016 unanimously ruled that the public protector’s
findings were binding and that Zuma’s disregard of the public protector’s findings and
recommendation to repay the money was a failure to “uphold, defend and respect” the
Constitution and ordered him to repay the state for some of the upgrades. Earlier that month, his
relationship with the Gupta family had made news again, over allegations that the family had
promised government portfolios to some individuals. In early April Zuma survived an
impeachment motion in the ANC-dominated National Assembly, but many, including some
senior ANC members, were weary of Zuma’s scandals and called for him to step down or be
recalled. Later that month, Zuma was once again the centre of negative attention, with a High
Court ruling that said the 2009 decision by state prosecutors to drop corruption charges against
Zuma was not rational and should be reviewed and set aside. Faced with the prospect of having
corruption-related charges reinstated against him, Zuma petitioned the Supreme Court to be
allowed to appeal the High Court’s decision. Separately, the NPA also petitioned the
Constitutional Court to be allowed to appeal the decision. In September the Constitutional Court
denied the NPA’s request to appeal, and the NPA then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
In October 2017 the Supreme Court ruled against Zuma and the NPA’s appeals, stating that the
corruption charges should not have been dismissed and could be reinstated.

Meanwhile, the ongoing scandals and allegations of corruption associated with Zuma, as well as
dissatisfaction with the performance of the ANC-led governments at all levels, took a toll on
support for the party. In what was widely seen as a referendum on Zuma and the ANC, the
August 2016 municipal elections, the party took the smallest percentage of the total vote since it
took power in 1994, garnering less than 60 percent.

In mid-October 2016, Madonsela, in one of her last acts before stepping down as public
protector, was due to release a report of her office’s investigation into allegations that members
of the Gupta family had wielded undue political influence on Zuma and other government
officials. Zuma went to court to delay the report’s release, but on November 2 he withdrew his
challenge, and the report was released later that day. Entitled “State of Capture,” it detailed
several instances of possible undue influence and recommended that a judicial inquiry team be
established to further investigate the allegations mentioned in the report, but it did not accuse
Zuma of having committed any crimes. On the heels of the report’s release, a vote of no
confidence against Zuma was held in the National Assembly, but it failed.

Although Zuma did not stand for a third term as president of the ANC, he was invested in the
outcome of the December 2017 contest, which was between Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, his
former wife and an experienced politician, and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa. Zuma
supported Dlamini-Zuma’s candidacy, with some analysts asserting that he assumed that if she
were elected, she would be able to shield him from future prosecution for corruption charges
after he left office; Dlamini-Zuma’s vision for the party’s policies also represented much of a
continuation of Zuma’s agenda. Ramaphosa, however, campaigned on a promise of cracking
down on corruption and encouraging economic growth. He defeated Dlamini-Zuma in a closely
contested race.

On the heels of the disappointing election outcome, Zuma was dealt another blow with the ruling
by the Constitutional Court on December 29, 2017, that said the National Assembly had failed in
its duties by not holding Zuma accountable with regard to the Nkandla scandal. Furthermore,
the court ordered the National Assembly to institute a process to be used in the future for
removing a president from office—thus increasing the likelihood that Zuma might once again
face impeachment proceedings or succumb to pressure from within the ANC to resign before
that could happen.
The situation came to a head in February 2018. After a series of tense meetings, on February
13, the ANC announced that it had recalled Zuma, and it expected a response from him—
presumably that he would offer his resignation—within a day. Zuma’s initial reaction indicated
that he had no intention of resigning, as he claimed that he had done nothing wrong and he
complained that the ANC was treating him unfairly. He did, however, offer his resignation on
February 14, 2018. Ramaphosa was sworn in as president of South Africa the next day.

Post-presidency legal troubles

Soon after stepping down, Zuma was confronted with more legal challenges. In March 2018 the
NPA announced that it was reinstating the charges against Zuma pertaining to his relationship
with Shaik and a French arms company; he faced 16 charges relating to racketeering,
corruption, money laundering, and fraud. Zuma pled not guilty at the trial, which began in May
2021. In a separate matter, a public investigation about allegations of corruption during Zuma’s
presidency, stemming from Madonsela’s 2016 “State of Capture” report, was underway.
Hearings began in August 2018. Zuma appeared before the investigatory commission to provide
some testimony in July 2019 but then refused to participate any further. He accused the head of
the commission, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, of being biased against him and
demanded his recusal, which was denied. In June 2021 the Constitutional Court found Zuma to
be in contempt of court for his refusal to participate in the commission hearings and sentenced
him to 15 months in jail. Zuma began serving his sentence in July, but in August he was taken
to a hospital for surgery pertaining to an undisclosed medical condition. The next month he was
granted medical parole and allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence from home.

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/jacob-gedleyihlekisa-zuma on 9 august
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma

Synopsis:
Member of the ANC and MK, Deputy-Secretary General of the ANC, Deputy President of South
Africa, President of South Africa and the African National Congress (ANC).
First Name:
Jacob
Middle Name:
Gedleyihlekisa
Last Name:
Zuma
Date of Birth:
12 April 1942
Location of Birth:
Nkandla, Zululand, Natal, South Africa
Gender:
Male
Early Life

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (Msholozi – his praise name) was born on 12 April 1942 at Nkandla
in northern Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal). He is the first born of five children of his father
Nobhekisisa Zuma and his second wife, Geinamazwi. His mother had three sons with his father,
Jacob being the eldest. His father constructed the middle name Gedleyihlekisa from a Zulu
phrase, which translated into English reads, “I cannot keep quiet when someone pretends to
love me with a deceitful smile.” His father’s first wife had four sons and three daughters.

His father, a policeman, died when Zuma was a young boy. Following his father’s death, he and
his mother left for his mother’s parental home in kwaMaphumulo, Natal. At the age of seven or
eight, Zuma began herding his grandfather’s cattle while his contemporaries went to school.
Zuma and his fellow herders would engage in traditional stick fighting, at which he allegedly
excelled. His mother had wished to take him back to Nkandla but there was no school there so
he was left tending the cattle and goats in kwaMaphumulo. When Jacob was still a youth, his
mother for the port city of Durban where she found employment as a domestic worker, leaving
her son behind.

Back in kwaMaphumulo, Zuma taught himself to read by looking at the books of other children
who attended school. He even arranged a night school for himself and his friends - eventually
approaching a lady who had gone up to Standard Four (Grade six) to provide them with tuition.
They paid her 25 cents to do this.

In his teens, Zuma would visit his mother who was working in Cato Manor (uMkhumbane) but
was not allowed in the home where she worked. Instead, he would walk around the city in
search of work. At around this age, Zuma was politically influenced by stories of the Bambatha
Rebellion which were retold by men who had lived through the period of the rebellion. However,
perhaps the greatest influence came from his elder step-brother Muntukabongwa Zuma. His
brother had been a soldier in World War II and later became a trade union activist and a
member of the African National Congress (ANC). While visiting Cato Manor and Greyville, in
Durban, Zuma saw ANC volunteers doing political work and consequently, he began attending
the organisation’s meetings too.

In 1959, he joined the ANC and the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the
South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and began attending ANC and trade union
meetings at Lakhani Chambers in central Durban. He spent three years, from 1960 to 1963,
attending political education classes there.

Anti-Apartheid political Activities, Arrest and Imprisonment

The banning of the ANC in 1960 led to the formation of its armed wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe
(MK). Zuma soon became involved with the armed struggle, and participated in sabotage
actions in Natal. As was common for aspirant MK cadres at the time, he also planned to leave
South Africa for military training abroad. During this period, he came under the influence of a
relative, Obed Zuma, and Stephen Dlamini and Moses Mabhida who were leading figures in
SACTU. Zuma began attending evening political classes under the tutorship of Mabhida and
Dlamini over a period of three years. Eventually, in 1963, Zuma was recruited as an active
member of MK by Mabhida.

A plan was conceived by MK to send 45 new recruits to Zambia aboard the ‘Freedom Ferry’ for
military training. Zuma was part of this group. However, the plan was uncovered by the security
police who organised an operation to arrest the group. In June 1963, as the group embarked on
a journey to Botswana, Zuma, alongside others, was arrested in the Groot Marico area near
Zeerust, in the Western Transvaal (now North West Province).

Zuma was detained under the 90 day detention law in solitary confinement at Hercules police
station before being transferred to the Hercules Police Station near Pretoria. He was
interrogated and beaten, even though the police already had enough evidence to secure a
conviction. Thereafter, he was held in solitary confinement for 90-days. The trial was held at the
Pretoria Old Synagogue with Judge Fritz Steyn, presiding.

On 12 August 1963, Zuma, at the age of 21, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison
for conspiring to overthrow the government. Along with some of his comrades, he was taken
from Pretoria to Leeukop Prison outside Pretoria before being transported to Robben Island to
serve his sentence. The vehicle stopped for an overnight sleep in Colesberg to collect other
prisoners. It was here that Zuma met his long-time friend Ebrahim ‘Ebie’ Ebrahim. The
handcuffed prisoners were also placed in leg irons for the entire journey, in a windowless van,
with just a sanitary bucket for comfort.

Robben Island

Zuma entered Robben Island on 30 December 1963, sharing a communal cell with a group of
between 30 and 50 other prisoners, washing in cold water (prisoners only got hot water in 1973)
and eating boiled mealies (maize) three times a day. African prisoners were given a different
diet from the Coloured and Indian prisoners on the island. For the ten years that he was on
Robben Island, Zuma never received a single visitor. His mother, on her domestic worker’s
salary, was scarcely able to afford the fare. Cognisant of this fact, Zuma wrote to her, telling her
to rather keep her income to look after his brothers and sisters.

Together with other prisoners on the island, Zuma worked in the blue stone quarry digging and
crushing slate for the construction of more prison cells. He was among the prisoners from Natal
who initiated political study groups. He also served in a number of positions in ANC structures,
which included being a group leader, a Public Relations Officer, cell leader and Chairman of the
Political Committee, organising political discussions. After prisoners fought for more rights in
prison, sport was eventually permitted.

Zuma took advantage of this new dispensation and played soccer whenever he could; he even
became captain of the Rangers, the Robben Island team for which he played. He was also part
of a choral and traditional dance group, as well as playing table tennis and chess and
participating in athletic events on the island.

Release, Resumption of political Activities and Exile

On Zuma’s release on 29 December 1973, he was taken to Pietermaritzburg police cells where
he was detained for another two weeks before being taken to Nkandla, where he was eventually
released. After his release, Phyllis Naidoo, an attorney in Durban who was herself later banned
and forced into exile, found work for Zuma in a pet shop in Durban. However, behind the
scenes, Zuma resumed his political activities. He was, for instance, instrumental in the re-
establishment of ANC underground structures in Natal between 1974 and 1975, where he
helped to provoke industrial unrest, aiding some 160 000 workers there to go on strike.

During this time, he also became part of an initiative, led by Harry Gwala, to recruit and send
young people out of the country for military training. His primary responsibility was to ensure a
safe passage for recruits into Mozambique and their re-entry into South Africa, with weapons
and further instructions from the MK leadership in exile.

In his private life, Zuma took advantage of being free from jail by marrying his childhood
sweetheart, Sizakele Gertrude Khumalo in 1973. However, following Harry Gwala’s arrest at the
end of a workers’ strike in 1975, Zuma left the country for Swaziland that December. His new
wife decided not go with him, preferring instead to wait for his return as she had done while he
was in prison on Robben Island. Their marriage did not survive the separation.

Over the next few years, Zuma was based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique. In
Swaziland, he met with other ANC comrades, among whom, future President Thabo Mbeki, who
allegedly first taught Zuma how to use a gun..

Early in 1976, Zuma secretly entered South Africa to re-establish contact with activists in the
Durban area. Then, in March 1976, along with Thabo Mbeki and Albert Dlomo, Zuma was
arrested and held at the Matsapha prison in Swaziland but managed to avoid deportation. Two
other ANC members were, however, kidnapped from Swaziland and imprisoned in South Africa.
After the intervention of Oliver Tambo, who sent Moses Mabhida and Thomas Nkobi to assist,
Zuma, along with his comrades, was released in April 1976 and deported to Mozambique,
where he first served as the official ANC Deputy Chief Representative and later the Chief
Representative.

During this period, Zuma was involved in underground work with Thabo Mbeki and others,
supporting ANC structures operating mainly inside South Africa. Zuma was deployed to work
largely within the Natal machinery. Later, whilst in Mozambique, Zuma dealt also with the
thousands of young people that left South Africa after the Soweto uprising in June 1976.
However, Zuma’s work remained largely focused on the internal underground of the ANC.
After the formation of the Internal Political Reconstruction Committee (IPRC) in Mozambique, in
1977, Zuma, Indres Naidoo and John Nkadimeng were drafted into the ANC Maputo Regional
Committee. Zuma was also co-opted as a member of the ANC National Executive Committee
(NEC) in 1977. That same year, Zuma began working for the SACP, and in 1978 completed a
three month leadership and military training course in the Soviet Union.

By 1984, Zuma had been elected the Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC, the year the
Nkomati Accord was signed between Mozambique and South Africa. After this accord was
signed, Zuma was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC and remained in
Mozambique. He was re-elected to the ANC’s NEC at the Kabwe Conference in 1985. Zuma
also served on the ANC's Military and Political Committees after its formation in the mid-80s,
and the Intelligence Department at the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia.

By 1986, Zuma commanded the Mandla Judson Kuzwayo (MJK) unit while he was still in
Mozambique. Headed by Yunis Shaik (Mandla), together with his brother Moe Shaik (Judson)
and Jayendra Naidoo (Kuzwayo), the unit infiltrated the Security police in Durban and were able
to access information relating to informers that the Security Police used. Due to this, the South
African government requested Mozambican authorities to expel six senior members of the ANC
from Mozambique, including Jacob Zuma. In response, the ANC moved him to Lusaka, Zambia
where he was appointed the Chief of Intelligence Department.

Along with Mbeki, Zuma formed part of the ANC President, Oliver Tambo’s negotiation team,
which met with the South African government representatives in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Among the first of these meetings, in November 1987, Zuma, together with Mbeki, was present
at a meeting arranged by Professor Willie Esterhuyse and a few of his colleagues. Several
similar meetings would follow where Zuma would participate.

Return to South Africa

After the ANC was unbanned in February 1990, Zuma clandestinely returned to the country in
March, alongside Penuell Maduna and Mathews Phosa, to work as part of a steering committee
tasked with identifying remaining obstacles to negotiations between the government and the
ANC. Later he was involved in negotiations which resulted in the signing of the Groote-Schuur
Minute, an agreement that outlined important decisions regarding the return of exiles and the
release of political prisoners.

Subsequently, in August 1990, when Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma were abroad, Cyril
Ramaphosa, then the Secretary General of the ANC convened the ANC’s National Working
Committee (NWC) axed Zuma from his position as head of intelligence and replaced Mbeki as
head of the ANC’s negotiations with the Government. Nonetheless, in November 1990, Zuma
was elected Chairperson of the ANC’s Southern Natal region.
In 1991 Zuma, together with Frank Mdlalose, national Chair of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),
set up the Peace and Reconstruction Foundation to rebuild the devastation following internecine
battles between the ANC and the IFP. He is largely credited with weakening the IFP’s grip on
power in kwaZulu-Natal and the diminishing support for the party.

In December 1991, at the first ANC conference held in South Africa since 1959, Zuma was
elected Deputy Secretary General and attended the Convention for a Democratic South Africa
(CODESA), where he served as the chair of the ANC’s negotiations commission. By the end of
1990, Zuma had left the SACP as a member, dedicating himself fully to the ANC.

In 1993 the ANC set up the Motsuenyane Commission to investigate human rights abuses that
occurred in ANC detention camps from 1979 to 1991. It was chaired by Dr. S.M. Motsuenyane,
and assisted by two other commissioners, the Hon. Margaret Burnham and Advocate D.M.
Zamchiya. The Commission reported that the ANC was guilty of torture in its camps and that
specific individuals were responsible for these abuses. The Commission was not happy with
Zuma’s explanation of events that took place and condemned him for not exercising proper
supervision.

Another controversy with which Zuma’s name was connected was in relation to the death of
Muziwakhe Ngwenya (MK name -Thami Zulu - TZ) in 1989. Whilst there was no direct reference
to Zuma in the hearing, he was implicated in Zulu’s death. The ANC had asked the Truth
Commission to help uncover whether former MK Commander Thami Zulu was an "enemy
agent". The Commission had already been approached by Zulu's family to help find the truth
behind his 14-month detention in exile under suspicion of being a spy, and his death a week
after his release. In its written submission to the Commission, the ANC said Zulu, who had
AIDS, had died of poisoning after his release, "and to this day it is a matter of conjecture as to
who administered this poison and why this was done". They went on to add that "[t]he (ANC's)
Department of Intelligence and Security has reason to believe that an agent or agents of the
regime were responsible."

Mbeki said an ANC internal Commission of Inquiry into Zulu's case had not made any
conclusive finding about this. The ANC Commission's report was among the documents
provided to the TRC in an appendix to the party's written submission. Mbeki denied that Zulu
had been kept in an ANC detention centre under suspicion of being a spy. Mbeki also denied
claims made by Zulu's family to the commission that it had not been informed of the
circumstances of Zulu's detention and death in exile. The family had visited Lusaka twice, paid
for by the ANC, and had been given the post-mortem report and other information. "He was
never charged with being an enemy agent, nor was such a charge pending. Even if he was
released on medical grounds, the fact is that once he was set free his status was the same as
that of any other member of the ANC. In short, there was no irrefutable proof that Zuma was in
any way responsible or linked to Zulu’s death, yet the accusation had been made.

Another incident where Zuma was prominently involved related to a former police officer,
Butana Almond Nofomela, who was due to hang for the murder of a farmer in 1989. On the eve
of his execution he asked to speak to Lawyers for Human Rights. Nofomela gave an affidavit
stating that he was part of a state assassination squad (based at Vlakplaas) and that he had
been involved in the murder of leading political figures in the resistance movement. He won a
reprieve. Journalist Jacques Pauw on the Vrye Weekblad broke the exclusive story, which Dirk
Coetzee, a former commander of the hit squad based at Vlakplaas, confirmed. Coetzee agreed
for the story to be published on condition that the ANC protect him. The ANC agreed. Zuma was
placed in charge of this project. In the meantime Coetzee’s wife embarked on an affair with
another Security Police plant. Coetzee was furious to learn about this whilst in Lusaka. Zuma
arranged for Coetzee’s wife to be flown to Lusaka to help save the marriage, and Coetzee was
always grateful to Zuma for this act of kindness.

In January 1994, Zuma was nominated as the ANC candidate for the Premiership of Natal. This
did not materialise since the ANC lost to the IFP in the provincial elections. Later that year,
Zuma was appointed MEC of Economic Affairs and Tourism for the KZN provincial government,
a position he would hold until June 1999.

Following the 1994 general elections, at the ANC’s national conference, held in Bloemfontein,
Zuma was elected both Chairman of the party and Chairperson of the ANC in Natal. An
exception was made in the ANC constitution to allow Zuma to hold both positions.

He was also one of the people who suggested Mbeki’s name for the position of the country’s
Deputy President.

Five years later, at the ANC’s National Conference held at Mafikeng in December 1997, Zuma
was elected as the ANC’s Deputy President. In 1999 he was appointed as the Deputy
President of South Africa, a position he held until he was relieved of duties by then state
president Thabo Mbeki in June 2005.

Ascendancy to Power

On 18 December 2007, Zuma was elected as President of the ANC at the party’s 52nd national
conference in Polokwane, Limpopo. Zuma polled 2 329 votes against his opponent, Mbeki, who
received 1 505 votes. In his closing address to the conference, Zuma stressed the unity of the
organisation as being paramount. He also paid tribute to Mbeki and the work that he had done
over the years for the ANC and the country. This meant, in effect, that for a brief period, Mbeki
retained the office of state President, but Zuma was the President of the ANC.

After Zuma’s election, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) served him with an indictment
on charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering. On 12 September 2008, Judge Chris
Nicholson, sitting in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, held, inter alia, that the corruption charges
were unlawful on procedural grounds. Mbeki applied to the Constitutional Court to appeal the
Nicholson verdict, which the NPA opposed. Zuma also stated that he opposed Mbeki’s
application.
On 20 September 2008, the ANC NEC resolved to recall Thabo Mbeki as head of state. He was
replaced by Kgalema Mothlante who became the third president of the Republic of South Africa.
He held office for approximately 7 and a half months (between 25 September 2008 and 9 May
2009). The NPA later withdrew all 16 charges (of racketeering, corruption, fraud and tax
evasion) against Zuma in the Durban High Court on 6 May 2009, paving the way for Zuma to
make a push for the office of state President.

After the charges were withdrawn, Zuma was elected President of the Republic of South Africa
on 6 May 2009. He was inaugurated at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 May 2009, stating at
the time that he would prefer to serve just one term as President. In the event, however, he ran
for the position twice, winning the majority of the national vote on both occasions.

Zuma’s first term in the Presidency ran from 2009- 2014, during which time, Zuma’s long-time
acquaintance and former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik was released from jail on medical
parole, just 28 months into his 15 year jail sentence. This fueled speculation that the new
President may have had a hand in negotiating his release, especially in light of comments Zuma
had made prior to Shaik’s release indicating publicly that he would personally oversee Shaik’s
acquittal. He also took over from Thabo Mbeki as mediator in resolving the Zimbabwe political
crises under the banner of Southern African Development Community (SADC).

On 14 January 2014, the ANC announced that Zuma would be their only candidate for the
upcoming general elections. On 21 May that year, Zuma was again elected as President of the
Republic, beginning a second term. Zuma’s next stint as Head of State continued in similar
fashion, with more controversy seemingly following his every move. In February 2016 then
Public Prosecutor, Thuli Madonsela, found Zuma guilty of having exceeded his powers of office
by using state funds to upgrade his Nkandla homestead and ordered him to pay back R7.8
million (see below).

Socio-Economic Policy Changes under Zuma

In 2010, Zuma announced the adoption of the New Growth Path (NGP) during his State of the
Nation address. The NGP replaced the ASGISA initiative which was introduced under Mbeki as
the principal economic policy driver for South Africa.

Subsequently, at the Mangaung conference in 2012, the National Development Plan (NDP) was
endorsed by the ANC and adopted as the long term strategic vision and blueprint for socio-
economic development for the country. The NDP sets out the goals the country plans to achieve
by 2030, builds consensus on the key obstacles to achieving these goals and what should be
done to overcome those obstacles, as well as providing a shared long term strategic framework
that allows for more detailed and effective planning and creates a basis for deciding how best to
use limited resources. The realisation of the vision elucidated in the NDP has been hampered
by the fact that certain underlying assumptions, especially those around economic growth, have
not been realised. The ANC has stated that it will be reviewing the NDP at its 2017 policy
conference.
In 2015, during his State of the Nation address, Zuma unveiled his Nine-Point Plan, aimed at
boosting economic growth and creating jobs in the medium term. The plan’s components
included:

1.Resolving the energy challenge;

2.Revitalising agriculture and the agro-processing value chain;

3.Advancing beneficiation or adding value to the mineral wealth;

4.More effective implementation of a higher impact Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP);
5.Encouraging private sector investment;

6.Moderating workplace conflict;

7.Unlocking the potential of SMMEs, cooperatives, townships and rural enterprises;

8.Boosting the role of state-owned enterprises, ICT infrastructure and broadband rollout, water,
sanitation and transport infrastructure;

9.Operation Phakisa, aimed at growing the ocean economy and other sectors.

In September 2016, when answering questions in Parliament, Zuma appeared unclear on the
plans points, responding to a question posed by an opposition MP by saying “We’ve talked
about it many times in this Parliament. The honourable speaker is very much aware of the 9-
point plan, we’ve talked about that. One of them is agriculture. There are many.”

Combatting HIV/AIDs and other health gains

Life expectancy in South Africa has risen from 56.8 years in 2009 to 62.4 years in 2016
according to mid year estimates generated by Statistics SA. This improvement is largely
attributable to changes in government policy under Zuma on combatting TB and HIV/AIDs.
Policies in this regard have included improving access to and uptake of ARVs as well as a
widespread HIV Counselling and Testing campaign. This ARV rollout has also had significant
impact on the infant and child mortality rates, by reducing mother-to-child transmissions.

Under Zuma’s administration, discussion around the introduction of National Health insurance
has been ongoing, and a regulatory body has been set up to regulate compliance with norms
and standards. The Office of Health Standards Compliance includes within its auspices the
Health Ombud, and the first Ombudsman, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, was appointed on 1
June 2016. His report on the death of psychiatric patients moved out of the Life Esidimeni
Hospital by the Gauteng Health Department served as a scathing indictment of the apparent
cost-saving measures adopted by the Department that resulted in the deaths of at least 94
people. The report concluded that the decision was “fundamentally flawed, irrational, unwise
and inhumane".

Nkandla homestead and other controversies

Zuma’s second term in the President’s Office has seen him embroiled in a number of polemic
issues. One major controversy relates to costly upgrades to his private home in Nkandla,
kwaZulu-Natal. Mail & Guardian journalists, Mandy Rossouw and Chris Roper accidentally
stumbled on the Nkandla development in November 2009 while on a story in Nkandla. It was
the late Rossouw who noticed the construction works and managed to get into the building area.
She wrote a story which was quite a scoop.

In May 2009, a security assessment of Zuma’s Nkandla residence in kwaZulu-Natal was done
by state security. State security personnel recommend improvements of around R27.9m. By
June 2010, R77m from other programmes had been directed to the Nkandla security upgrades.
These programmes included plans for city regeneration. There was approval for R38.9m in
2010/11 but this is still subject to some controversy as to who actually approved this amount. By
2013, reports revealed that R203m of taxpayers’ money would be used in the revamping of the
building. Public outrage ensued, with government issuing reports that impropriety was involved.
On 1 October 2012 the Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi issued a statement on the
Nkandla Presidential Residence:

“Please be advised that Nkandla Presidential Residence, like all other presidential residences in
South Africa, is declared a National Key Point in terms of the National Key Point Act 102 of
1980 (“the Act”). Therefore, any information relating to security measures of a National Key
Point is protected from disclosure in terms of the Act, the provisions of the Protection of
Information Act, the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) and other relevant security
prescripts of the State Security Agency.”

In October 2012, the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela began an investigation into the publicly
funded construction at Nkandla. Zuma addressed Parliament in November 2012 and claimed
that the costs of Nkandla upgrades are due to the National Key Points Act. He further claimed
that his family paid for the costs of the building. The state then filed a court order to prevent
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela from releasing her report on Nkandla. Nonetheless,
Madonsela was within the law and released her 450 page long and a 75-page executive
summary report entitled Secure in Comfort, on the controversial upgrades to President Jacob
Zuma's Nkandla homestead. Madonsela said Zuma must pay for the non-security upgrades at
his home, which included a visitors’ centre, an amphitheatre, a swimming pool, a cattle kraal, a
culvert, a chicken run and extensive paving.

There was immense public outrage and opposition parties were united in their condemnation of
the “Nkandla saga”. For example, the Democratic Alliance called for the impeachment of Zuma.
According to Madonsela's report the final costs of Nkandla are “conservatively estimated” to
amount to R246m, but could be higher. Recent newspaper articles claim that the costs maybe
closer to R266m.

In the second half of 2014, the Economic Freedom Fighters [EFF] began to challenge Zuma in
Parliament on the Nkandla question, demanding that he respond to Parliament on questions
about the payments for Nkandla. In August of 2014 the EFF began to use the slogan, ‘pay back
the money’ in response to Zuma’s unwillingness to speak on the Nkandla scandal.

President Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2015 was marked by
one of the most controversial breaches of Parliamentary law in recent South African history.
Prior to the address, the EFF had been agitating the Zuma should ‘pay back the money’ spent
on Nkandla and had warned that they were going to bring up the Nkandla question during
Zuma’s State of the Nation address. During Zuma’s speech to Parliament a member from the
EFF began to raise points of order. Members of the EFF were subsequently asked by the
Speaker to leave Parliament, but they refused to do so arguing that they had the parliamentary
right to raise a point of order during any parliamentary session. The Speaker then asked
security officers to enter the building and the EFF members were forcefully removed from
Parliament. In response to the belief that some of the security personnel were undercover
policemen and the severe breach of parliamentary law in allowing for members to be forcefully
removed from Parliament, the opposition DA party also walked out of Parliament in protest. This
incident, coupled with an attempt to jam the signals of reporters in Parliament cast a dark
shadow over President Zuma’s 2015 State of the Nation address.

In Parliament debate continued for days over the occurrences at SONA with many
Parliamentarians standing up to speak against Zuma and the actions of his government on the
day. The leader of the DA, Mmusi Maimane, went so far as to tell Zuma, ‘you broke Parliament’.

On 19 February 2015, Zuma responded to Parliament on the accusations and questions around
his State of the Nation Address. In this address Zuma began by stating that 2015 was ‘the year
of going the extra mile in building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous
South Africa. It is also the year of rededicating ourselves to eradicate racism and all related
intolerances in our country.’ On the issue of the signal jamming Zuma said it was ‘an
unfortunate incident and it should never happen again’.

Uproar on Teen Pregnancy Statements

In late March 2015 President Zuma once again found himself at the centre of controversy when
in an annual address to traditional leaders, Zuma argued that teen mothers should be separated
from their children until they had finished school. He told the leaders, ‘they must be educated by
government until they are empowered and they can take care of their kids, take them to Robben
Island or any other island, sit there, study until they are qualified to come back and work to look
after their kids.’ Zuma acknowledged that his statements would cause controversy, but he felt
that allowing teenage mothers to leave school in order to look after their children was proving an
untenable burden on society and the state’s welfare bill. Zuma further stated, ‘in no way can you
have young kids being mothers of other kids and young boys being fathers of kids, They know
nothing of it.’ Zuma’s statements caused a furore, especially amongst women’s rights activists
who saw Zuma’s statements as an attack on women and the rights of young teenage mothers.
In response to the furore, President Zuma’s office issued a statement which read that ‘President
Zuma was emphasising the need for teenagers to focus on their studies and said children
should not be raising children’.

Court cases

During his tenure as Deputy President of South Africa, Zuma was also involved in controversies,
which resulted in major legal problems. In 2002, Zuma was implicated in a major corruption
scandal, in connection with the trial of his close associate Schabir Shaik. The state alleged that
Zuma used his position in government to enrich himself by benefitting from Shaik and
companies involved in the procuring of arms for the state. It was further alleged that he violated
‘The Code of Conduct in Regard to Financial Interests’ to which all cabinet members are bound.
In Shaik’s court case, Judge Hilary Squires said that Shaik, Zuma and Alain Thetard – the local
director of an arms company involved, Thomson (later Thint) – met in Durban and agreed that
Zuma would receive R500 000 a year in return for protecting the arms company from any
investigation regarding its role in the arms deal acquisition, which became a serious issue for
the country. Bulelani Ngcuka, then National Director of Public Prosecutions and Maduna, then
Minister of Justice announced at a media conference that the National Prosecuting Authority’s
(NPA) decision was not to prosecute Zuma for corruption; however Shaik was to be charged for
fraud and corruption.

Ngcuka had said that although Zuma was clearly involved, the NPA did not have a winnable
case against Zuma. Shaik at his trial said that the financial relationship between Zuma and
himself were loans made in friendship and not as a result of corruption. He had realised that
Zuma was experiencing severe financial difficulties. Nevertheless, on 2 June 2005, Shaik was
convicted at the Durban High Court on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to
bribes he allegedly paid to influence Zuma in order to win government contracts for Shaik’s
company, Nkobi Holdings.

On 6 November 2006, the Supreme Court of appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein, Free State Province
upheld Shaik’s fraud and corruption charges and he was set to begin his 15 year sentence at
Durban’s Westville Prison. The five SCA judges agreed with Judge Squires findings that Shaik
had made 238 payments to Zuma totalling R1.2 million and that it was not because of their
friendship.

On 14 June 2005, President Mbeki relieved Zuma of his duties as Deputy President of the
country, but he remained Deputy President of the ANC. This, in a sense, divided the ANC and
there was groundswell of support for Zuma. At a meeting of the ANC’s leaders, Zuma offered to
step down to clear his name, a move which was accepted. However, this was overturned by
delegates at the ANC’s National General Council (NGC). However, he resigned his
parliamentary seat, almost immediately after the sacking, although as an elected person he
could have opted to stay on. On 20 June 2005, Vusi Pikoli, the National Director of Public
Prosecutions who succeeded Ngcuka, announced through his spokesperson, Makhosini Nkosi
that Zuma would be charged with corruption.

On 29 June 2005, Zuma appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court on two counts of corruption,
including bribery related to attempting to influence an investigation into the 1999 arms deal. He
was released on R1000 bail. Nonetheless, Zuma’s legal woes increased. On 8 August 2005,
Aubrey Thanda Mngwengwe, the acting investigating director of the Directorate of Special
Operations (DSO or Scorpions) decided to extend an investigation to include fraud in
connection with Zuma’s declarations to the Registrar of Parliamentary Members Interests and
the South African Revenue Services (SARS) for benefits he received from Shabir Shaik.

On 20 September 2006 Judge Herbert Msimang struck the corruption case against Zuma in the
Pietermaritzburg High Court in kwaZulu-Natal on the grounds that the State had charged Zuma
before properly investigating and preparing its case against him.

Further controversy arose in November 2005, when Zuma was accused of raping Fezekile
Ntsukela Kuzwayo, on 2 October 2005 at his Forest Town, Johannesburg home. Fezekile was
known as Khwezi during and after the trials (it is illegal to publish the names of a rape
complainant). Fezekile’s father and Zuma were both members of MK and served prison
sentence together on Robben. Fezekile laid a charge on 4 November at the police station in
Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Questions arose whether then Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils,
had a hand in Fezekile laying a charge against Zuma, which Kasrils has denied, despite the fact
that Fezekile did speak to Kasrils before she laid her complaint at the police station.

Zuma informed the ANC NEC that allegations of rape had been made against him, but issued a
denial through his lawyer Michael Hulley. He went on trial on 13 February 2006. Judge
President of the Transvaal Provincial Division, Bernard Ngoepe withdrew on the grounds that
Zuma’s legal team asked for his recusal as he had signed the warrant in 2005 to search Zuma’s
homes. Judge Phineas Mojapelo recused himself on the grounds that he had worked with
Zuma during the days of the struggle. Ngope’s Deputy, Judge Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Shongwe was
the brother of Minah Shongwe, the mother of one of Zuma’s children Edward.

The Judge President was unaware of this and when he came to learn about the relationship of
Zuma and Minah Shongwe, he had the case stood down and another judge appointed in
Shongwe’s place. Zuma argued that he had consensual sex with the alleged rape victim. He
acknowledged making a mistake by having unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman and
that he had taken a shower after sex with her to minimise the risk of contracting AIDS.

The trial was heavily publicised in the media and on 8 May 2006, the presiding Judge, Willem
van der Merwe, acquitted Zuma of the rape charge. He endured both negative and positive
public response to the case. A few days after the trial, Zuma apologised to the nation and the
complainant. After his acquittal, he was reinstated as ANC Deputy President.
Further controversy arose in 2010 when it emerged that Zuma had fathered a child with Sonono
Khoza, daughter of Irvin Khoza, the Orlando Pirates football club chair, and former chair of the
African 2010 Soccer World Cup local organising committee.

The Controversy of 'The Spear'

In May 2012, the artist Brett Murray put on display a painting of President Zuma at the
Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg entitled ‘The Spear’. The painting depicted President Zuma
in the stance of Vladimir Lenin but with his genitalia exposed. On 17 May 2012, the ANC
released a press statement expressing outrage over the painting as ‘obscene’ and ‘vulgar’.
Zuma himself stated that the portrait, ‘has the effect of impugning my dignity in the eyes of all
who see it. In particular, the portrait depicts me in a manner that suggests that I am a
philanderer, a womaniser and one with no respect. It is an undignified depiction of my
personality and seeks to create doubt about my personality in the eyes of my fellow citizens,
family and children’.

He also said that he felt ‘personally offended and violated’ by the portrait. Supporters of the
President, who saw the painting as an affront on his dignity, marched to the gallery demanding
the painting be taken down. On 22 May 2012, the artwork was vandalized by two men who
covered the painting in red and black paint. The men were immediately arrested and one of the
culprits was badly beaten by the attendant security guard. President Zuma threatened to go to
court over the painting. The controversy around ‘The Spear’ sparked widespread debate in
South Africa around questions of censorship, freedom of expression and racism, with many
seeing the explicit portrayal of Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed as a racist sexualisation of
the African male.

There was an attempt by the Film and Publication Board to place an age restriction on the
painting but this was contested in court and so did not hold. President Zuma later said that he
thought the painting ‘rather vulgar’, but added that ‘I don’t think in a country you can have
people thinking and feeling exactly the same. I think it is [that] people have got their own ideas,
they want to express them’.

Awards and Recognition

Zuma has received several awards, including the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding
Leadership in Washington DC, US (1998), and honorary doctorates from University of Fort
Hare, University of Zululand, Medical University of Southern Africa, University of Limpopo
(2001), University of Zambia (2009), American University of Nigeria, University of Abomey-
Calavi of Benin (2011),Texas Southern University (2011), Honorary Professorship from the
Peking University (PKU) of the People’s Republic of China (2012) and Honorary Doctorate of
Leadership in Humanity from Limkokwing University, Malaysia (2013).

On October 1998, Zuma received the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership for his
role in ending political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, in Washington DC in the United States of
America (USA). That same year he established the Jacob Zuma RDP Educational Trust Fund
which is geared towards assisting children from impoverished backgrounds with education.

In 2002, Zuma was involved in mediation with Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) and between Rwanda. Zuma’s role in the Burundi conflict was roundly recognised and
acknowledged as a resounding success. Zuma also launched the Moral Regeneration
Movement to galvanise government and civil society.

Resignation as President of South Africa

After several days of back and forth talks between Jacob Zuma and the ANC NEC, the party
informed the public and Zuma that he would have until midnight on 14 February 2018 to step
down or there would be a vote of no confidence in parliament the following day. The ANC and
the opposition parties came to an agreement on the procedure of the vote and it was widely
thought that Zuma would be voted out.

On 14 February 2018 the Hawks (South Africa’s elite crime-fighting unit) raided several
properties belonging to the Gupta family who were seen as Zuma’s allies, patrons and allegedly
the major benefactors of the perceived corrupt structures that had been created under Zuma’s
presidency. During the day Zuma gave an interview that indicated that he would not step down,
he felt he had done nothing wrong and had been slighted by the party that he had given so
much too. A number of analysts believed that he was trying to create a narrative in which he
was the victim, one that it was felt was far removed from reality.
Just after 22:00 Zuma gave a full media briefing. It was here that he announced his resignation
as the president of South Africa.

References
https://www.dac.gov.za/sites/default/files/NDP%202030%20-%20Our%20future%20-%20make
%20it%20work_0.pdf|https://www.gov.za/issues/nine-point-plan|https://www.fin24.com/
Economy/zuma-clueless-about-his-9-point-plan-da-20160913|https://www.statssa.gov.za/?
p=8176|https://www.who.int/countries/zaf/en/|https://www.ohsc.org.za/|https://www.scribd.com/
document/338095858/Esidimeni-Report|https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/the-life-
esidimeni-disaster-the-makgoba-report

Further reading list

Mandela put SA first. The same can’t be said of Jacob Zuma, Tony Leon, TimesLive, 26 July
2017
Zuma’s ANC: A safe haven for the corrupt, compromised and unethical, JUDITH FEBRUARY,
Daily Maverick, 23 August 2017
opensecrets.org.za
Jacob Zuma - the survivor whose nine lives ran out, , BBC News, 6 April 2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/zuma on 9 august
Jacob Zuma in Russia for ‘health reasons’,
spokesperson says
Ex-president of South Africa receives medical treatment day after court rules he
should return to prison

Agence France-Presse in Johannesburg

Fri 14 Jul 2023 13.11 BST

The former South African president Jacob Zuma is receiving medical treatment in Russia, his
spokesperson has said, a day after the country’s highest court upheld a ruling that he should
return to prison.

“Zuma travelled to Russia last week for health reasons,” Mzwanele Manyi said on Friday.

The spokesperson added that the trip “was private, it was not a secret,” after the information
was published by local media. “He will be returning to the country once his doctors have
completed their treatment,” Manyi said.

On Thursday, the constitutional court upheld a ruling that Zuma should return to prison to
complete a 15-month term for contempt of court, dismissing an appeal seeking to keep him out
of jail.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether he would return to custody. Prison authorities
said they were studying the judgment and would seek legal advice.

Zuma served as president from 2009 to 2018 before being forced out by graft scandals. He was
sentenced in June 2021 after refusing to testify before a panel investigating financial sleaze and
cronyism under his tenure. He was freed on medical parole two months into his term, a decision
that was overturned and has since been confirmed.

He faces separate charges of corruption in an arms procurement scandal dating to the late
1990s, when he was vice-president.

The former head of state attended a conference last week on carbon credits in Zimbabwe, where
he announced a donation of 7m credits for the country’s new market, on behalf of a Belarusian
company.
Belarus is a Russian ally that is often described as Europe’s last dictatorship – the leaderships of
both countries are targeted by western actions.

Zuma is one of the generation of anti-apartheid fighters whose cause was supported by the
Soviet Union and who retains political or personal links with Moscow.

Jacob Zuma ordered to return to jail from medical parole

This article is more than 1 year old
South African former president is serving 15-month sentence for contempt of court

Reuters in Johannesburg
Wed 15 Dec 2021 10.20 GMT
South Africa’s high court has ordered the former president Jacob Zuma to return to jail after
setting aside a decision to release him on medical parole.

Zuma, 79, is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court after he ignored instructions to
participate in a corruption inquiry. He began medical parole in September, and in the same
month, South Africa’s top court, the constitutional court, dismissed his attempt to overturn the
sentence.

The legal processes against him for alleged corruption during his nine-year reign are widely
viewed as a test of post-apartheid South Africa’s ability to enforce the rule of law, in particular
against powerful, well-connected people.

Zuma handed himself in on 7 July to begin his prison sentence, triggering the worst violence
South Africa had seen in years as his supporters took to the streets. The protests widened into
looting and an outpouring of anger over the hardship and inequality that persist in South Africa
27 years after the end of apartheid. More than 300 people were killed and thousands of
businesses were pillaged and destroyed.

Zuma’s legal team is appealing against the latest court ruling, his foundation said. “The
judgment is clearly wrong & there are strong prospects that a higher court will come to a totally
different conclusion,” the foundation wrote on Twitter.

The Department of Correctional Services said that it was studying the judgment and would
make any announcement later.

Zuma’s presidency, from 2009-2018, was marred by widespread allegations of graft and
wrongdoing, and he faces a separate corruption trial linked to his dismissal as deputy president
in 2005, when he was implicated in a $2bn government arms deal.

That trial, which has been held up for many years, on multiple charges including corruption,
racketeering and money laundering, is expected to continue in 2022.
He denies wrongdoing in all cases and says he is the victim of a political witch-hunt meant to
marginalise his faction in the ruling African National Congress. The party said only that it had
received the judgment.

https://ewn.co.za/0001/01/01/malicious-claims-that-ramaphosa-wanted-to-keep-an-eye-on-
zuma-dismissed-by-anc