Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (born 12 April 1942) is the President of South Africa,[4] elected by parliament following his party's victory in the 2009 general election.

Zuma is the President of the African National Congress (ANC), the governing political party, and was Deputy President of South Africa from 1999 to 2005.[5] Zuma is also referred to by his initials JZ[6] and his clan name Msholozi.[7][8] Zuma became the President of the ANC on 18 December 2007 after defeating incumbent Thabo Mbeki at the ANC conference in Polokwane. Zuma was also a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP),[9] briefly serving on the party's Politburo until he left the party in 1990.[10] On 20 September 2008, Thabo Mbeki announced his resignation after being recalled by the African National Congress's National Executive Committee,[11] following a conclusion by Judge Nicholson of improper interference in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), including the prosecution of Jacob Zuma for corruption.

Zuma has faced significant legal challenges. He was charged with rape in 2005, but was acquitted. In addition, he fought a long legal battle over allegations of racketeering and corruption, resulting from his financial advisor Schabir Shaik's conviction for corruption and fraud. On 6 April 2009, the National Prosecuting Authority decided to drop the charges citing political interference.

Zuma was born in Nkandla, Zululand (now part of KwaZulu-Natal).[12] His father was a policeman who died when Zuma was still a young boy, and his mother a domestic worker.[13] He received no formal schooling.[14] As a child, he was constantly moving between Zululand and the suburbs of Durban in the area of Umkhumbane (near Chesterville).[15] He has two brothers, Michael and Joseph.
[edit] Imprisonment and ban

Zuma engaged in politics at an early age and joined the African National Congress in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1962, following the banning of the ANC in 1961. He joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1963.[9] In 1963, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in the western Transvaal, currently part of the North West Province. Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the Apartheid government which was led by white minorities, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and other notable ANC leaders who were also imprisoned there. Whilst imprisoned Zuma served as a referee for prisoners' association football games, organised by the prisoners' own governing body, Makana F.A.

After his release, he was instrumental in the re-establishment of ANC underground structures in the Natal province.

He first left South Africa in 1975 and met Thabo Mbeki in Swaziland, and proceeded to Mozambique, where he dealt with the arrival of thousands of exiles in the wake of the Soweto uprising.

He became a member of the ANC National Executive Committee in 1977. He also served as Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, a post he occupied until the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican and South African governments in 1984. After signing the Accord, he was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC.

He served on the ANC's political and military council when it was formed in the mid-1980s, and was elected to the politburo of the SACP on April 1989.[18]

In January 1987, Zuma was again forced to leave a country, this time by the government of Mozambique. He moved to the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter Chief of the Intelligence Department. His tenure there remains the subject of considerable controversy.

Biography Of Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma president of SOUTH AFRICA