Jacob Zuma

== Personality and public image ==
[[File:Jacob Zuma, 2009 World Economic Forum on Africa-10.jpg|thumb|Zuma's trademark laugh, 2009]]
Zuma's "charisma and affable personality"<ref name="Makhanya-2017">{{Cite web |last=Makhanya |first=Mondli |date=2017-12-17 |title=Jacob Zuma: A man who knew power – raw power |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/special-report/anc_conference/jacob-zuma-a-man-who-knew-power-raw-power-20171217 |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Citypress |language=en-US}}</ref> is at the centre of his public image, and is thought to be responsible for much of his political popularity.<ref name="Harding-2017">{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Andrew |date=2017-12-15 |title=The trials of Jacob Zuma |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Trials_of_Jacob_Zuma |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-04-06 |title=Jacob Zuma – the survivor whose nine lives ran out |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17450447 |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=David |date=2009-04-19 |title=Jacob Zuma the chameleon brings South Africans joy and fear |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/20/zuma-south-africa-politics |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> His charisma is most fully on display at his political rallies, which sociologist Roger Southall describes as laden with "political theatre" and "popular idiom",<ref name="Southall-2020">{{Cite journal |last=Southall |first=Roger |date=2020-10-01 |title=Donald Trump and Jacob Zuma as charismatic buffoons |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/17533171.2020.1832799 |journal=Safundi |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=382–393 |doi=10.1080/17533171.2020.1832799 |issn=1753-3171 |s2cid=228887576}}</ref> especially through song '''–''' his longstanding trademark is [[uMkhonto we Sizwe]] anthem "''Umshini wami''" (English: ''Bring Me My Machine Gun''), but he also became associated with "''Yinde lendlela''" (English: ''It's a Long Journey'') after the ANC's [[53rd National Conference of the African National Congress|Mangaung conference]] in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shoba |first=Sandisiwe |date=2019-05-06 |title=Inside KZN: A tale of two presidents — greeted very differently |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-05-06-inside-kzn-a-tale-of-two-presidents-greeted-very-differently/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tolsi |first=Niren |date=2019-01-18 |title=Msholozi desperately tries for another (political) hit |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-00-msholozi-desperately-tries-for-another-political-hit/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Khumalo |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Khumalo |date=2012-12-23 |title=Zuma's song |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2012-12-23-zumas-song/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Journalist [[Alec Russell]] wrote in 2009, "When Zuma gets in front of these crowds, he is more than a politician: briefly, he becomes something closer to a [[Revivalist (person)|revivalist]] preacher, or the leader of a cult."<ref name="Russell-2009">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=Alec |date=2009-04-17 |title=The next president of South Africa |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f4f4b2ec-288c-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0 |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>

Zuma is known for his sense of humour,<ref name="Harding-2017" /> and to the disapproval of opposition politicians, as president he frequently joked during his addresses to [[Parliament of South Africa|Parliament]], including the mockery of the [[Democratic Alliance (South Africa)|Democratic Alliance]]'s fixation on the [[Nkandla homestead|Nkandla scandal]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-05-27 |title='Nkandla' Nkandla' Nkandla' ... he he heh!': Zuma mocks opposition |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2015-05-27-nkandla-nkandla-nkandla--he-he-heh-zuma-mocks-opposition/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Merten |first=Marianne |date=2015-11-20 |title=It's all a big joke to Zuma |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/its-all-a-big-joke-to-zuma-1948223 |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Independent Online (South Africa)|IOL]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gqirana |first=Thulani |date=2015-05-27 |title=Zuma jokes and mocks his way through speech |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-27-zuma-jokes-and-mocks-his-way-through-budget-vote-debate/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-05-18 |title=MPs mimic Zuma's laugh in Parliament |url=https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/123921/watch-entire-parliament-mimics-zumas-laugh/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=BusinessTech |language=en-US}}</ref> On 1 April 2015, his office released a statement about new cabinet appointments which was later revealed as an [[April Fools' Day]] prank on the media.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-04-01 |title=Zuma has last laugh on the media on April Fool's Day |url=https://www.enca.com/south-africa/zuma-has-last-laugh-media-april-fools-day |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=eNCA |language=en}}</ref> Some have said that one factor in Zuma's popularity is what Southall calls "the politics of charismatic buffoonery".<ref name="Southall-2020" /> In one phrase, his public persona has been "constructed as sometimes slightly gormless, but warm and accessible".<ref name="Piper-2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Piper |first1=Laurence |last2=Matisonn |first2=Heidi |date=2009-07-01 |title=Democracy by Accident: The Rise of Zuma and the Renaissance of the Tripartite Alliance |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00344890902945657 |journal=Representation |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=143–157 |doi=10.1080/00344890902945657 |issn=0034-4893 |s2cid=55159870 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10566/482}}</ref> [[Mondli Makhanya]] wrote:<blockquote>Zuma's other great strength was that he did not mind looking stupid. And so he sang and danced at will. Whereas other politicians use this as an election gimmick, Zuma did it all the time and genuinely seemed to enjoy it. In Parliament and on public platforms he laughed and giggled as if he had inhaled a potent hallucinogenic. The more stupid he looked, the more it seemed to endear him to the people.<ref name="Makhanya-2017" /></blockquote>
[[File:Pyeongchang wins bid to host 2018 Winter Olympics - 5910854350.jpg|left|thumb|Zuma embraces South Korean President [[Lee Myung-bak]] in 2011]]
As a politician, he was viewed as an accessible figure – "a simple man, a man of the people",<ref name="Southall-2020" /> and a good listener.<ref name="Makhanya-2017" /><ref name="Dixon-2008">{{Cite web |last=Dixon |first=Robyn |author-link=Robyn Dixon (journalist) |date=2008-10-12 |title=Zuma is a mystery in S. Africa |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-12-fg-zuma12-story.html |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en |location=Johannesburg}}</ref><ref name="Piper-2009" /> In a 2009 interview, Zuma said that [[apartheid]]-era ANC president [[Oliver Tambo]] inspired his public posture:<blockquote>While Tambo was a great thinker, he was very simple. There is nothing he did not do... When people came to him he attended to them. He would even attend to somebody who comes to raise the issue of the shoe that doesn't have shoelaces, he would ensure that the shoelaces were found... I am not a great man. I am a man of the people. I believe in people and I think that the people are everything. Once there is disconnection with the people you have problems.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Booysen |first=Susan |date=2015-11-16 |title=Jacob Zuma likes to be cast as a man of the people – but is he? |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-11-16-jacob-zuma-likes-to-be-cast-as-a-man-of-the-people-but-is-he/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref></blockquote>His connection to the "grassroots"<ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-07-26 |title=Engaging Zuma |url=https://www.ft.com/content/470828a4-7a07-11de-b86f-00144feabdc0 |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> is partly due to his embrace of his rural background, ethnic heritage, and lack of formal education.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cotterill |first=Joseph |date=2018-02-14 |title=Political legacy of scandal-hit South African leader Jacob Zuma |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8434d30e-0bed-11e8-839d-41ca06376bf2 |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> These aspects of his persona are frequently contrasted with the perceived intellectualism and [[Pan-Africanism]] of the ANC under Mbeki.<ref name="Russell-2007">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=Alec |date=2007-11-30 |title=Jacob Zuma |url=https://www.ft.com/content/dc0fcb32-9f5c-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=Financial Times}}</ref><ref name="Russell-2009" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mueller-Hirth |first=Natascha |date=2010 |title=After the rainbow nation: Jacob Zuma, charismatic leadership and national identities in Post-Polokwane South Africa |url=https://abdn.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/after-the-rainbow-nation-jacob-zuma-charismatic-leadership-and-na |journal=20th Annual ASEN Conference – Nation and Charisma |language=English}}</ref> Especially in combination with his penchant for struggle songs and the [[toyi-toyi]], Zuma's acceptance of his background has been described as tapping into "popular understandings, memories, and meanings of racial oppression, racialised dispossession, and struggles of freedom" during apartheid and thereafter.<ref name="Southall-2020" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zulu |first=Andile |date=2021-09-22 |title=Why is Jacob Zuma still so popular? |url=https://mg.co.za/opinion/2021-09-22-why-is-jacob-zuma-still-so-popular/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref name="Russell-2009" /> On the ethnic front, he often presents himself as a [[Zulu people|Zulu]] traditionalist, and has been associated with [[social conservatism]]. He is a [[Polygamy|polygamist]], in line with Zulu tradition, and at a 2006 rally in [[KwaZulu-Natal]], for example, he publicly spoke against [[Same-sex marriage in South Africa|same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seale |first=Lebogang |date=2006-09-27 |title=Zuma's anti-gay comments lead to backlash |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/zumas-anti-gay-comments-lead-to-backlash-295249 |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Independent Online (South Africa)|IOL]] |language=en}}</ref> He was frequently photographed wearing traditional Zulu attire at cultural events,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=2014-07-25 |title=Dressing up or dressing down: what's in an overall? |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2014-07-25-dressing-up-or-dressing-down-whats-in-an-overall/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}</ref> and he appears less comfortable speaking in English than in his native [[Zulu language|Zulu]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=David |date=2010-09-08 |title=English-Zulu dictionary helps break down language barriers in South Africa |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/08/south-africa-zulu-english-dictionary |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-06-30 |title=In divisive ex-president's prison sentence, South Africans see a reckoning |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2021/0630/In-divisive-ex-president-s-prison-sentence-South-Africans-see-a-reckoning |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |issn=0882-7729}}</ref> in which he is known for his "linguistic flair".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maimela |first=Lerato |date=2021-07-06 |title='Sexier when mute': Duduzane's Woolworths accent dissolves his sex appeal |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/lifestyle/2556157/duduzane-zuma-mocked-by-fans-for-being-a-coconut-comrade/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=The Citizen |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Southall-2020" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Holmes |first=Carolyn E. |date=2021-07-14 |title=Why South Africans are protesting the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/14/why-south-africans-are-protesting-arrest-former-president-jacob-zuma/ |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>
[[File:Jacob Zuma, 2009 World Economic Forum on Africa-1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|230x230px|Zuma in 2009]]
Some commentators have claimed that his broad appeal arises from "the [[Populism|populist]]'s trait of sometimes saying what his audiences want to hear",<ref name="Russell-2009" /> and he has frequently been called a political "chameleon", with little known about what political principles and ideologies he subscribes to personally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=De Vos |first=Pierre |date=2009-12-22 |title=President chameleon |url=https://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/president-chameleon/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Constitutionally Speaking |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nieuwoudt |first=Stephanie |date=2008-03-12 |title=Zuma and the death penalty: Critics cry populism |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-03-13-zuma-and-the-death-penalty-critics-cry-populism/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=[[Mail & Guardian]] |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref name="Dixon-2008" /> This characterisation was made as early as 2007, when, ahead of the ANC's [[52nd National Conference of the African National Congress|Polokwane conference]], the ''[[Financial Mail]]'' ran the first of two stories on Zuma, famously published under the headline "Be Afraid".<ref name="Dixon-2008" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Tim |date=2019-10-24 |title=TIM COHEN: We saw Zuma dangers early |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/fm-fox/2019-10-24-tim-cohen-we-saw-zuma-dangers-early/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}</ref> The articles criticised Zuma as an "opportunist"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Southall |first=Roger |date=2009 |title=Understanding the 'Zuma Tsunami' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27756284 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=36 |issue=121 |pages=317–333 |doi=10.1080/03056240903210739 |issn=0305-6244 |jstor=27756284 |s2cid=143855956|hdl=10.1080/03056240903210739 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and concluded, in the paraphrase of ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' journalist [[Barry Bearak]], that he was "far more interested in holding power than in making policy, long on charm if short on intellect".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bearak |first=Barry |date=2008-09-22 |title=A South African of Charisma and Mystery |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/world/africa/22zuma.html |access-date=2022-01-14 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

During his post-presidency legal battles, when Zuma publicly claimed that he was being vilified under a conspiracy, William Gumede and others criticised what they called his "[[narcissism]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gumede |first=William |date=2020-10-11 |title=Let us not be the victims of narcissistic leaders like Zuma and Magashule |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/2020-10-11-let-us-not-be-the-victims-of-narcissistic-leaders-like-zuma-and-magashule/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=TimesLIVE |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-17 |title=The unbearable narcissism of Jacob Zuma |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/editorial/2019-07-17-editorial-the-unbearable-narcissism-of-jacob-zuma/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Rob |date=2021-07-05 |title=ROB ROSE: For Zuma, the sneering narcissist, it's all about him |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/2021-07-05-rob-rose-for-zuma-the-sneering-narcissist-its-all-about-him/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}</ref>