Jacob Zuma

==== Radical economic transformation ====
As a former member of the SACP, Zuma has described himself as a socialist<ref name="mcgreal2" /> and became president with the support of a left-wing coalition.<ref name="mcgreal2" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=17 December 2007 |title=Leadership Battle Grips South Africa's Dominant Party |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/world/africa/17anc.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721071919/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/world/africa/17anc.html |archive-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> Analysts have claimed that he has bolstered [[populism]] in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gumede |first=William |date=2019-05-28 |title=How the EFF has shifted SA politics to the left |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/Columnists/GuestColumn/how-the-eff-has-shifted-sa-politics-to-the-left-20190528 |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Ipsos |title=Beyond Populism |date=9 February 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdjhoV8_FBY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310172638/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdjhoV8_FBY |access-date=27 April 2017 |archive-date=10 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> From 2017, at the tail-end of his presidency, his rhetoric and policy priorities became more leftist under what is known as the "radical economic transformation" (RET) programme of the ANC of this period. Zuma announced the new focus on RET during his February 2017 [[State of the Nation Address (South Africa)|State of the Nation]] address.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Merten |first=Marianne |date=2017-06-29 |title=ANC policy, radical economic transformation and ideological proxy battles for control |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-06-29-analysis-anc-policy-radical-economic-transformation-and-ideological-proxy-battles-for-control/ |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}</ref> Later that year, he explained that RET had been adopted as ANC policy and therefore as government policy, and defined it as a "fundamental change in the structures, systems, institutions and patterns of ownership and control of the economy, in favour of all South Africans, especially the poor".<ref name="Paton-2017">{{Cite web |last=Paton |first=Carol |date=2017-12-07 |title=Foreign investors in energy sector will have to partner with locals, Zuma says |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2017-12-07-foreign-investors-in-energy-sector-will-have-to-partner-with-locals-zuma-says/ |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}</ref> The RET policy was controversial,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Desai |first=Ashwin |date=2018-10-02 |title=The Zuma moment: between tender-based capitalists and radical economic transformation |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2018.1522424 |journal=Journal of Contemporary African Studies |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=499–513 |doi=10.1080/02589001.2018.1522424 |issn=0258-9001 |s2cid=158520517}}</ref> and some critics claimed that it had popular political appeal but lacked substance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKaiser |first=Eusebius |date=2017-04-21 |title=It's radical economic gibberish |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-04-21-00-its-radical-economic-gibberish/ |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref name="Rudin-2017">{{Cite web |last=Rudin |first=Jeff |date=2017-04-25 |title=Zuma's plan for radical economic transformation is just BEE on steroids |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-04-25-zumas-plan-for-radical-economic-transformation-is-just-bee-on-steriods/ |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Others claimed that it was used to defend "rent-seeking practices"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhorat |first=Haroon |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Betrayal-of-the-Promise-25052017.pdf |title=Betrayal of the promise: how South Africa is being stolen |publisher=State Capacity Research Project |year=2017}}</ref> and the influence of the [[Gupta family]] on Zuma's administration.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-07-02 |title='Let's embrace radical economic transformation' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-02-00-lets-embrace-radical-economic-transformation/ |access-date=2021-12-07 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-08-31 |title=Dot by dot, state capture emerges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-08-31-00-dot-by-dot-state-capture-emerges/ |access-date=2021-12-07 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Zuma claimed that critics of his politics were agents of "[[white monopoly capital]]".<ref name="Rudin-2017" />