Former South African President Jacob Zuma served in that position from 9 May 2009 until 14 February 2018. Zuma is a divisive politician who has been cleared of all the accusations against him despite being charged with rape and corruption. He began working as a child to support his family after losing his father when he was young, therefore he was unable to attend any formal schooling. He joined the African National Congress party’s military wing when he was a teenager. He was given a ten-year prison term for plotting to topple the apartheid regime in South Africa. He established underground networks after being freed and carried on working for the ANC from adjacent nations. He returned to the nation and was chosen to serve as deputy president after the government’s ban on the ANC was lifted. He was embroiled in corruption scandals while serving as vice president, and he was also accused of rape, which led to legal issues for him. He maintained his popularity within the ANC despite the numerous accusations of malfeasance, and after being exonerated on all counts, he was elected as South Africa’s fourth president. He served in the position for over nine years until resigning in the wake of a no-confidence resolution being introduced in parliament. He practices polygamy and has 20 children, which is frequently questioned and scrutinized on a global scale.
Early Childhood & Life
He was born on April 12, 1942, to policeman Geinamazwi Zuma and his wife Nobhekisisa Bessie in Nkandla, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The brothers he has are Michael and Joseph.
He and his mother relocated to Maphumulo after the death of his father during World War II. He started working as a livestock shepherd when he was a young child and never finished formal education. He eventually learned how to read and write on his own.
Career of Jacob Zuma
He joined the ANC Youth League and the African National Congress (ANC) in 1958. (ANCYL). He joined the South African Congress of Trade Unions the following year (SACTU).
When he joined a political study group in Cato Manor (Mkhumbane) in 1962, he was actively sought out to join MK, the ANC’s military branch. He joined the South African Communist Party the following year (SACP).
He left the nation in June 1963 to attend military training, but he was detained together with a group of 45 recruits. They received a 10-year sentence on Robben Island after being found guilty of plotting to overthrow the government.
He assisted in organizing internal resistance following his release in December 1973, and between 1974 and 1975, he played a crucial role in the building of ANC clandestine institutions in Natal. Later, he joined a movement started by Harry Gwala to prepare young people for the military overseas.
In December 1975, Gwala departed the country following his arrest. He worked from Southern Africa for the following 12 years, strengthening ANC organizations in South Africa through clandestine operations alongside Thabo Mbeki and others.
He sneaked back into the nation in the early months of 1976 in order to reconnect with activists in the Durban region.
He started working for the SACP in 1977 after completing a three-month military and leadership training school in the Soviet Union. He became control of the ANC Intelligence Department by the decade’s conclusion.
He was chosen to lead the ANC’s southern Natal region in November 1990. He was chosen to serve as the ANC party’s deputy secretary general the following year.
When violence broke out in Natal in 1993, he was taking part in negotiations between the ANC and the Inkhata Freedom Party (IFP).
He was chosen as the ANC’s National Chairperson in 1994, and he thereafter assumed the position of Chair.
He returned to the nation and was chosen to serve as the ANC’s Vice President once the government lifted its ban on the organization. He was chosen to be South Africa’s deputy president in 1999, and he held that position until 2005.
He was linked to a significant corruption scandal in 2002 through the trial of Schabir Shaik, a close friend of his. When he was charged with rape in November 2005, there was additional uproar.
When he was exonerated in May 2006, the trial received extensive media coverage and a mixed reaction from the general public. He was reinstalled as the ANC’s Deputy President a week later despite the bad press. He won the election for ANC President in December 2007.
After his party won the 2009 general election, he was chosen as South Africa’s fourth democratic president, and he assumed office on May 9, 2009.
It was announced in January 2014 that he will be the only ANC contender in the forthcoming general election. He was chosen by the National Assembly to serve as president for a second term on May 21, 2014, following the general elections of that year, in which the ANC maintained its majority.
After Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of the ANC on December 18, 2017, there was increased pressure on Jacob Zuma to hand over the presidency of South Africa to Ramaphosa.
At first, Zuma withstood the pressure, but on February 14, 2018, he abruptly resigned as president of South Africa after the ANC recalled him and a no-confidence resolution was launched in Parliament.
Recognition & Achievements
He received the “Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership” in 1998 in recognition of his contribution to putting an end to political violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
Personal Legacy & Life
He has been married six times and practices polygamy. He is now married to four women and is thought to be the father of roughly 20 children who were born to his marriages, girlfriends, and mistresses.
Jacob Zuma Net Worth
A politician from South Africa named Jacob Zuma has a $20 million fortune. From 2009 until 2018, Jacob Zuma presided over South Africa. In addition, Zuma served as leader of his political organization, the African National Congress. Zuma served as South Africa’s deputy president from 1999 to 2005. Zuma once belonged to the African National Congress, which was eventually outlawed by the government of the nation. He was detained, found guilty of plotting to overthrow the government, and sentenced to ten years in a cell on Robben Island. Nelson Mandela was then one of his fellow prisoners.