Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma       (politician)
Born	Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma 1942-04-12 Nkandla, Natal, South Africa
Children	20
Spouse	Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo
Party	African National Congress
President of South Africa In office 9 May 2009 - 14 February 2018 Succeeded by Cyril Ramaphosa  President of the African National Congress  In office 18 December 2007 - 18 December 2017 Succeeded by Cyril Ramaphosa  Deputy President of South Africa In office 14 June 1999 - 14 June 2005 Preceded by Thabo Mbeki

Jacob Zuma (born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who was the fourth President of South Africa from the 2009 general election until his resignation on 14 February 2018, giving way to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC's new leader.

While his career has consistently been dogged by - likely true - allegations of corruption and close ties to the billionaire Gupta family, the focus on this also has a political, factional component, as he is not as close to the Oppenheimer financial interests as some others in the ANC..

Deputy president

Zuma served as Deputy President of South Africa from 1999 to 2005, but was dismissed by President Thabo Mbeki in 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of soliciting a bribe for Zuma.

ANC president

Jacob Zuma was nonetheless elected President of the African National Congress (ANC) on 18 December 2007 after defeating Mbeki at the ANC conference in Polokwane. On 20 September 2008, Mbeki announced his resignation after being recalled by ANC's National Executive Committee. The recall came after South African High Court Judge Christopher Nicholson ruled Mbeki had improperly interfered with the operations of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), including the prosecution of Jacob Zuma for corruption.

Later life

Since 2018, the Zondo Commission has been investigating corruption and fraud in the government, and Zuma himself has been called to testify before the Commission. He has not returned to the inquiry since withdrawing on the fourth day of his testimony in July 2019.

In a separate legal matter, in 2018 the High Court of South Africa backed a decision to reinstate charges from 2009 of corruption against Zuma relating to a $5bn arms deal from the 1990s. He faces 16 counts of corruption, racketeering, fraud, and money laundering, accepting a total of 783 illegal payments. Zuma pleaded not guilty in May 2021.

He was sentenced to 15 months in jail, in 2021, for contempt of court after Zuma defied an earlier court order to return and testify before the Zondo Commission.

On 6 September 2021, he was granted medical parole.

Opinions on Covid-19

Zuma is an opponent of the measures introduced under the guise of Covid-19:

"On 05 July 2021, former president Jacob Zuma on Sunday dismissed questions about his supporters gathered outside his home in KwaZulu-Natal without observing Covid-19 regulations. Zuma‚ who has not received a Covid-19 vaccination‚ addressed media personnel at his KwaDakwadunuse home in Nkandla on Sunday night and said he was not responsible for what his supporters did even if their actions were against lockdown regulations.

According to Zuma‚ lockdown regulations were no different to the rules imposed on people during the mid-1980s state of emergency enforced by the apartheid regime. “We have a level 4 lockdown with all the hallmarks of a [state of emergency and the curfews of the 1980s‚” said Zuma. “The only difference is that we use different levels‚ like contempt of court instead of detention without trial‚ but the substance is exactly the same. Being jailed without trial is no different from detention without trial.”

Zuma revealed he had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 despite his age group qualifying for jabs. In what could be viewed as his first sign of disregarding lockdown regulations‚ the former president went out with Amabutho (Zulu regiments) on Saturday to greet supporters while not wearing a mask."

 

Appointments by Jacob Zuma

Appointee	Job	Appointed	End
Tina Joemat-Pettersson	South Africa/Minister/Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries	11 May 2009	25 May 2014
Tina Joemat-Pettersson	South Africa/Minister/Mineral and Energy Affairs	26 May 2014	30 March 2017
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi	South Africa/Deputy Minister of Science and Technology	6 June 2014	25 May 2019

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2015	21 January 2015	24 January 2015	World Economic Forum Switzerland	Attended by a lot of people. This page lists only the 261 "Public Figures".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2016	20 January 2016	23 January 2016	World Economic Forum Switzerland	Attended by over 2500 people, both leaders and followers, who were explained how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would changed everything, including being a "revolution of values".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2017	17 January 2017	20 January 2017	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2950 known participants, including prominently Bill Gates. "Offers a platform for the most effective and engaged leaders to achieve common goals for greater societal leadership."

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The Korea issue is now in the hands of the BRICS	Article	3 September 2017	Adam Garrie	"Simon says: 'There's a 7½-hour flight from the BRICS summit in Xiamen, China to Pyongyang, North Korea so if Sergei Lavrov and the Chinese FM took that flight together to meet Kim Jong-un, it would have huge impact, and get the ball rolling on dialogue'."

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