Jacob Zuma

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-apartheid activist, member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, and president of the African National Congress (ANC) between 2007 and 2017.

Zuma was born in the rural region of Nkandla, which is now part of the KwaZulu-Natal province and the centre of Zuma's support base. He joined the ANC at the age of 17 in 1959, and spent ten years in Robben Island Prison as a political prisoner. He went into exile in 1975, and was ultimately appointed head of the ANC's intelligence department. After the ANC was unbanned in 1990, he quickly rose through the party's national leadership and became deputy secretary general in 1991, national chairperson in 1994, and deputy president in 1997. He was the deputy president of South Africa from 1999 to 2005 under President Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela's successor. Mbeki dismissed Zuma on 14 June 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of making corrupt payments to Zuma in connection with the Arms Deal. Zuma was charged with corruption, and was also acquitted on rape charges in the highly publicised 2006 trial. He managed to retain the support of a left-wing coalition inside the ANC, which allowed him to remove Mbeki as ANC president in December 2007 at the ANC's Polokwane elective conference.

Zuma was elected president of South Africa in the 2009 general election and took office on 9 May. The criminal charges against him were formally withdrawn the same week. As president, he launched the R4-trillion National Infrastructure Plan and signed a controversial nuclear power deal with the Russian government, which was blocked by the Western Cape High Court in 2017. As a former member of the South African Communist Party, he increasingly relied on left-wing populist rhetoric, and in his 2017 State of the Nation address he announced a new policy of "radical economic transformation". Few of the attendant policy initiatives were implemented before the end of his presidency, but they included land expropriation without compensation, free higher education, a series of attempted structural reforms in key sectors involving restrictions on foreign ownership, and more stringent black economic empowerment requirements. In the international arena, Zuma emphasised South-South cooperation and economic diplomacy. The admission of South Africa to the BRICS grouping has been described as a major triumph for Zuma, and he has been praised for his HIV/AIDS policy.

Zuma's presidency was beset by controversy, especially during his second term. In 2014, the Public Protector found that Zuma had improperly benefited from state expenditure on upgrades to his Nkandla homestead, and in 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma had failed to uphold the Constitution, leading to calls for his resignation and a failed impeachment attempt in the National Assembly. By early 2016, there were also widespread allegations that were investigated by the Zondo Commission between 2018 and 2021. They claimed the Gupta family had acquired immense corrupt influence over Zuma's administration that amounted to state capture. Several weeks after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected to succeed Zuma as ANC president in December 2017, the ANC National Executive Committee recalled Zuma. After a fifth vote of no confidence in Parliament, he resigned on 14 February 2018 and was replaced by Ramaphosa the next day.

Shortly after his resignation on 16 March 2018, the National Prosecuting Authority announced that Zuma faced prosecution on corruption charges relating to the 1999 Arms Deal. He pleaded not guilty on 26 May 2021, but the trial was not scheduled to take place until early 2023. In July 2021, Zuma was imprisoned in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, for contempt of court for a separate legal matter. After testifying for less than three days at the Zondo Commission on state capture allegations, he refused to return, violating summons and a Constitutional Court order compelling his testimony. On 29 June 2021, the Constitutional Court sentenced him to fifteen months imprisonment. He was arrested on 7 July and released on medical parole two months later on 5 September. The high court rescinded his parole on 15 December. The parole was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court of Appeal, but it allowed the Department of Correctional Services to consider whether to deduct the time spent under it from his sentence.

Early life and political career

Zuma was born in Nkandla, Natal Province (now part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal), and often moved around Natal and the suburbs of Durban as a child. His father, Nobhekisisa, was a policeman who died when Zuma was five, and his mother, Geinamazwi, was a domestic worker. His middle name, Gedleyihlekisa, means "one who smiles while causing you harm" in Zulu. He did not receive formal schooling.

He has at least three brothers—Michael, Joseph, and Khanya—and at least one sister—Velephi. Michael Zuma was employed by Khumbula Property Services, a construction company, and in 2011 admitted to using his elder brother Jacob's political status to secure a government contract for the company in exchange for a homestead in Nkandla.

Imprisonment and exile

Zuma began engaging in anti-apartheid politics at an early age and joined the ANC in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1962, two years after the ANC was banned. That year, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in western Transvaal, currently part of the North West Province. Zuma was convicted of conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and other notable ANC leaders also imprisoned during that time. While imprisoned, Zuma was a referee for prisoners association football games, organised by the prisoners own governing body, Makana F.A.

After his release from prison, Zuma re-established ANC underground structures in Natal. He left South Africa in 1975 and was initially based in Swaziland where he met Thabo Mbeki. In Mozambique, he dealt with the arrival of thousands of exiles seeking military training in the wake of the 1976 Soweto uprising. He became a full member of the ANC National Executive Committee in 1977, and a member of the ANC's Politico-Military Council when it was formed in 1983. He was also 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 the Accord was signed, he was appointed as ANC Chief Representative in Mozambique. In December 1986, the South African government requested that Mozambican authorities expel six senior members of the ANC, including Zuma. He was forced to leave Mozambique in January 1987, so he moved to the ANC headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia where he was appointed Head of the ANC's underground structures, and shortly afterward was named chief of the intelligence department.

Zuma was also a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). He joined in 1963, served briefly on the party's Politburo, and left in 1990.

Return from exile

After the ANC was unbanned in February 1990, Zuma returned to South Africa on 21 March to begin the negotiations process. He was one of the first ANC leaders to return to South Africa for negotiations. Later that year, he was elected unopposed as the ANC's Southern Natal Chairperson. Zuma, as a Zulu, became known as a leading peace broker in Natal during the political violence of this period that was concentrated in that province, and arose largely from conflict between nationalist supporters of the then Xhosa-dominated ANC and supporters of the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). He is also credited with having expanded the ANC's Zulu support base in Natal. At the ANC's July 1991 elective conference, Zuma stood for the post of ANC Secretary-General and lost to Cyril Ramaphosa, but was elected Deputy Secretary-General, comfortably beating Alfred Nzo and Popo Molefe in a vote.

In the 1994 general election, South Africa's first democratic election, Zuma stood as the ANC's candidate for the premiership of his newly constituted home province, KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC rose to power in the elections, with Mandela elected president and Mbeki his deputy, but lost KwaZulu-Natal to the IFP. Zuma became a member of the executive council (MEC) for economic affairs and tourism in KwaZulu-Natal. In December 1994, he was elected ANC provincial chairperson for KwaZulu-Natal, and at the ANC's 1994 elective conference he was elected national chairperson, beating Pallo Jordan and Jeff Radebe by a large margin. He held both positions until 1997, having been re-elected provincial chairperson in 1996.

Rise to the presidency

Deputy presidency

Zuma was elected deputy president of the ANC at the party's 50th National Conference in Mafikeng in December 1997, and was subsequently appointed deputy president of South Africa in June 1999, pursuant to the 1999 general election. Zuma served under newly elected President Mbeki and was the chief mediator in the Burundi peace process, in which he worked with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who chaired the Great Lakes Regional Initiative, a grouping of regional presidents overseeing the peace process in Burundi.

In late 2002, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that Zuma was one of several ANC politicians under investigation by the Scorpions for corruption related to the R30-billion Arms Deal, a major defence procurement package which the government had signed months after Zuma's appointment to the deputy presidency. In August 2003, however, National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Bulelani Ngcuka told the media that the NPA had a "prima facie case of corruption" against Zuma but had decided not to prosecute on the basis that the case was unlikely to be won. A highly public spat ensued between Zuma allies and Ngcuka, who was accused by Mac Maharaj of having been an apartheid spy, an accusation later dismissed by the specially appointed Hefer Commission. Zuma laid a misconduct complaint against Ngcuka with the Public Protector, Lawrence Mushwana, who in May 2004 found that Ngcuka's statement to the media had been "unfair and improper".

Mbeki and Zuma were both re-elected in the 2004 general election, but on 14 June 2005, Mbeki removed Zuma from his post as deputy president following the conviction of Zuma's associate, Schabir Shaik, for making underhanded payments to Zuma in relation to the Arms Deal. Mbeki told a joint sitting of Parliament that "in the interest of the honourable Deputy President, the government, our young democratic system and our country, it would be best to release the honourable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities". Zuma also resigned as a member of Parliament.

His successor as deputy president of South Africa was Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Ngcuka's wife. Mlambo-Ngcuka had been minister of minerals and energy since 1999. Her appointment was booed publicly atANC rallies by Zuma supporters, including at a Women's Day event in Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal.

First corruption indictment

Soon after Zuma's dismissal, the NPA announced its intention to instate formal corruption charges against him. He was served with a provisional indictment on fraud and corruption charges in November 2005, mirroring the indictment earlier served on Shaik. However, the NPA was unprepared to serve the final indictment and filed an application for postponement. On 20 September 2006, the Pietermaritzburg High Court dismissed the application, and when the NPA indicated that it was not prepared to proceed with the trial, the matter was stricken off.

Rape trial

In December 2005, Zuma was charged with raping a 31-year-old woman, known to the public by the pseudonym Khwezi. The incident allegedly occurred on 2 November 2005 at Zuma's home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. When the trial began on 6 March 2006, Zuma pleaded not guilty, claiming that he and Khwezi had consensual sex. He was acquitted on 8 May 2006 following a highly publicised trial. Zuma's admission was controversial, as he stated that he had not used a condom while having sex with Khwezi, despite knowing she was HIV-positive and having been, as deputy president, the head of the National AIDS Council and Moral Regeneration Campaign. He told the court that he had taken a shower after the act, claiming that doing so reduced the risk of HIV transmission. The popular South African comic strip ''Madam & Eve,'' and well known political cartoonist Zapiro, repeatedly lampooned Zuma for his testimony, and Zuma now always appears under a showerhead in Zapiro cartoons.

Continued popularity

Although Zuma had been fired as national deputy president, he retained the ANC deputy presidency, and internal factions began to coalesce around him and Mbeki. Between 2005 and 2007, their rivalry deepened into what Susan Booysen called "a brutal and all-consuming disagreement between two major ANC groupings". Although the corruption and rape allegations were considered politically damaging, Zuma continued to enjoy considerable support from left-wing elements of the ANC, especially the ANC Youth League under Fikile Mbalula, and from the ANC's partners in the Tripartite Alliance, the SACP, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Blade Nzimande of the SACP and Zwelinzima Vavi of COSATU were among Zuma's chief organisers and most vocal supporters (though both recanted their support years later). Vavi and Youth League leader Julius Malema later said that they were prepared to "kill for Zuma". Nzimande and his SACP comrade Gwede Mantashe warned that the corruption trial would endanger public stability if it went ahead, although there were reports that support for Zuma had caused a rift within the SACP. While Zuma's political strength was at least partly based on his relationships within intra-party politics and Mbeki's lack of popularity with the left wing, he also had a large Zulu support base, and one analyst argued that his supporters' loyalty was partially rooted in a traditionalist Zulu loyalty.

Zuma's supporters publicly expressed the view that his dismissal and prosecution were the result of a political conspiracy by Mbeki, who they said had sought to oust Zuma to entrench their dominance in the ANC. Zuma's court appearances on the corruption charges drew large crowds of supporters (on one estimate, up to 10,000 at a time), who, on one occasion, burned T-shirts with Mbeki's picture on them, which the ANC leadership condemned. Zuma became known for singing the apartheid-era struggle song "''Umshini wami''" (English: ''Bring Me My Machine Gun'') with his supporters during these informal rallies. Likewise, during the rape trial, Zuma supporters gathered outside the courthouse and sometimes clashed with smaller groups of anti-rape protesters. Zuma supporters were seen carrying posters questioning Khwezi's integrity, burning photos of her, and on one occasion throwing stones at a woman that they mistook for her.

By October 2008, Zuma had been acquitted of rape and was no longer subject to corruption charges. However, this did little to lighten the rivalry between Mbeki and Zuma. A ''Mail & Guardian'' analysis stated:

The political damage f events of recent monthsis incalculable, with the ruling African National Congress now an openly divided and faltering movement. This has had a domino effect on the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which have floundered and fractured in the face of damaging charges against a man they ardently backed as the country's next president. The trial has been fought against the backdrop of a bitter succession war between Mbeki and Zuma. Both have been fatally wounded. Mbeki's support in the ANC has crumbled... But even Zuma's most diehard supporters privately acknowledge that he cannot now be president...

Defamation lawsuits

By early 2006 during the rape trial, Zuma and his supporters complained of a concerted media plot to discredit him and harm his political career. In March, he appointed a legal team, including former Conservative Party politician Jurg Prinsloo and advocate Wycliffe Mothuloe, to fight his "crucifixion by the media". Among his targets was the ''Sowetan,'' whom he told that the media, at the instruction of Ngcuka of the NPA and former Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, was trying to "crucify" him. The newspaper had printed the interview under the headline "I'm like Christ – Zuma". In June and July 2006, Zuma filed a series of defamation lawsuits against various South African media outlets for publishing content that allegedly besmirched his public profile in the form of cartoons, commentary, photos and parody pieces. The defendants included the ''Star'' (sued for R20 million), ''Rapport'' (R10 million), Highveld Stereo (R7 million), the '' Sunday Times'' (R6 million), the '' Citizen'' (R5 million), the ''Sunday Sun'' (R5 million), the '' Sunday Independent'' (R5 million), and the ''Sunday World'' (R5 million). Zuma said in 2005:

For a period of five years my person has been subjected to all types of allegations and innuendo, paraded through the media and other corridors of influence without these allegations tested. I have thereby been denied my constitutional right to reply and defend myself.

In December 2008, Zuma sued Zapiro for R7 million over his controversial rape of Lady Justice cartoon, bringing the total value of the defamation lawsuits to at least R70 million, an unprecedented figure in South African law. Many of the suits were withdrawn or settled out of court. ''Rapport'' settled for R50,000 over a defamatory reader's letter, and the British ''Guardian'' newspaper also paid Zuma substantial damages over defamatory statements.

Election as ANC president

As per party tradition, Zuma was in line to succeed Mbeki as head of the party. However, by April 2007 it was clear that Mbeki intended to run for a third term as ANC president. Even though he was prohibited by the Constitution from standing again for the national presidency, the ANC lacks internal term limits. Zuma gained the support of five of the nine provincial ANC branches when they nominated candidates at their provincial congresses in late 2007. He became the favourite to win the presidency and became the ANC's presidential candidate in the 2009 elections. While the ANC was extremely likely to win regardless of its candidate, there were reports that Zuma's support base and left-wing alliances unnerved international and domestic investors.

On 18 December 2007, at the ANC's 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, Limpopo, Zuma was elected ANC president, beating Mbeki with 2,329 votes to 1,505.

Second corruption indictment

Just over a week after the Polokwane conference, the NPA reinstated charges against Zuma and served him an indictment to stand trial on 12 fraud charges, two corruption charges, and one charge each of racketeering and money laundering. According to the Constitution, he would have been rendered ineligible for the national presidency had he been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. However, on 12 September 2008, the charges were declared unlawful on a technicality. The presiding judge also expressed a belief that the charges had been the result of a political conspiracy against Zuma.

Although this judgement was later overturned by the appellate court, the Zuma-aligned ANC National Executive, as elected at the Polokwane conference, immediately "recalled" Mbeki, asking him to resign as national president. Mbeki, seeking to avoid a protracted dispute, did so, and was replaced by newly elected ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who led an interim administration while Zuma campaigned for the 2009 election.

In January 2009, the Supreme Court of Appeal found that the charges against Zuma were not unlawful, contrary to the ruling of the lower court. However, the NPA formally withdrew the charges in the same week that Zuma was inaugurated as national president, citing apparent evidence of prosecutorial misconduct in the so-called spy tapes.

Release of Shaik on parole

In March 2009, Shaik was controversially released from prison on medical parole, just over two years into his 15-year sentence. Earlier the same week, Zuma had said publicly that as national president he would pardon Shaik on medical grounds, and denied having played any role in Shaik's release. Shaik had applied for a presidential pardon in April 2008 when Mbeki was president, and he continued to lobby for a pardon during Zuma's presidency, saying it was unfair that he had been convicted while neither Zuma nor the implicated arms company had been taken to trial.

President of South Africa (2009–2018)

The ANC won the national election on 22 April 2009 by a slightly diminished majority of 65.90%, with Zuma having campaigned under the theme "Continuity and Change". His appointment was formalised by Parliament on 6 May, and he was sworn in as president of South Africa on 9 May 2009.

Failure to disclose assets

As president and therefore a member of cabinet, Zuma was required by the government's ethics code to declare his financial interests within 60 days of taking office. In March 2010, nine months after taking office, South African media reported that he had failed to do so. Opposition parties and the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partner COSATU urged Zuma to disclose his interests, and the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) called for an investigation by the Public Protector. ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu explained that Zuma constituted a "special case" because of his "large family", which complicated the process. The ANC distanced itself from Sokutu's statement and Zuma filed the disclosure later that week.

Domestic policy

Radical economic transformation

As a former member of the SACP, Zuma has described himself as a socialist and became president with the support of a left-wing coalition. Analysts have claimed that he has bolstered populism in South Africa. 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. 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". The RET policy was controversial, and some critics claimed that it had popular political appeal but lacked substance. Others claimed that it was used to defend "rent-seeking practices" and the influence of the Gupta family on Zuma's administration. Zuma claimed that critics of his politics were agents of "white monopoly capital".

Economic reform and spending

Zuma was inaugurated in South Africa at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis and amid South Africa's first recession since the end of apartheid. Upon taking office, he established the National Planning Commission under the office of the presidency which was chaired by Minister Trevor Manuel. It was responsible for developing the National Development Plan, which was adopted by Zuma's cabinet in 2012. Other major initiatives included the Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme, which was launched in 2011 amid electricity generation shortfalls at state energy utility Eskom, and a R4-trillion National Infrastructure Plan launched in 2012. Zuma expressed support for expanding South Africa's nuclear power programme, particularly for a nuclear deal with Russian nuclear agency Rosatom which concluded in September 2014 but was ruled unlawful by the Western Cape High Court in 2017.
Zuma's administration pursued a number of structural economic policy reforms, but critics characterised them as "investor-unfriendly", and most were met significant opposition. Reforms included increased regulation of private security companies; increased regulation of oil, gas, and minerals resources; a proposal to increase black economic empowerment ownership requirements in mines; and in 2017, a proposal for the introduction of a national minimum wage. Zuma was attentive to land reform issues throughout his second term, but from 2017 he emphasised his support for land expropriation without compensation. While opening the ANC's 54th National Conference in December 2017, he unilaterally announced that higher education would be free for students in households whose income was less than R350,000 per year, meeting a central demand of the #FeesMustFall student protests.

South Africa's social grants programme expanded under Zuma, and Zuma was praised for his HIV/AIDS policy which has been credited with increasing life expectancy in South Africa. However, his critics claim that his policies increased South Africa's debt burden with the debt-to-GDP ratio increasing from 28% at the start of his presidency to just over 50% in the week of his resignation. Nedbank, one of South Africa's largest banks, estimates that poor policy decisions, maladministration, and corruption during Zuma's second term alone cost the South African economy R470 billion (US$33.7 billion).

Foreign policy

Zuma's first state visit as president was to Angola, where he sought to improve relations with the government of President José Eduardo dos Santos, who had had a tense relationship with Mbeki. His government's foreign policy emphasised the developmental objectives of African and Global South countries with a focus on economic diplomacy. It was also characterised by a pivot towards the BRIC, especially China. In December 2010, South Africa became a formal member of BRIC, which was then renamed BRICS, and Zuma attended the group's third summit meeting in Sanya, China, in 2011. South Africa's admission followed a concerted campaign for membership and has been described as "a huge diplomatic coup" and "the most important foreign policy achievement of the Zuma administration".During South Africa's tenure on the United Nations Security Council, Zuma's administration was criticised for deviating in its stance on certain foreign regimes, especially in its attitudes towards international intervention in civil conflicts. It voted in favour of Resolution 1970 and Resolution 1973 but condemned their use by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as the basis for military intervention in Libya. It also voted in favour of a 2012 resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but established friendly relations with the Assad regime after the 2014 Syrian presidential election. The administration also appeared to vacillate in its response to the disputed 2010 presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire.

Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, Mbeki had advocated for non-confrontational "quiet diplomacy" as an alternative to the "megaphone diplomacy" used by Western governments that harshly criticised Robert Mugabe's regime. This approach was controversial, with elements of the ruling alliance calling for a tougher stance against Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF. In a 2006 interview with ''Der Spiegel'', Zuma had supported quiet diplomacy and said of Mugabe:

The Europeans often ignore the fact that Mugabe is very popular among Africans... The people love him. So how can we condemn him? Many in Africa believe that there is a racist aspect to European and American criticism of Mugabe. Millions of blacks died in Angola, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda. A few whites lost their lives in Zimbabwe, unfortunately, and already the West is bent out of shape.

By December 2007, Zuma was more forthcoming in criticising Zimbabwe's leadership, contrasting his own policy to Mbeki's, and observing that it was "tragic that other world leaders who witness repression pretend it is not happening, or is exaggerated". He was critical of the Zimbabwean government's behaviour during the disputed March 2008 elections in Zimbabwe and called the delays "suspicious". In a press conference on 24 June he said, "We cannot agree with ZANU-PF. We cannot agree with them on values. We fought for the right of people to vote, we fought for democracy." At an ANC dinner in July, he rebuked Mugabe for refusing to step down, and in November he said that the South African Development Community (SADC) should "force" Zimbabwean leaders to reach an agreement, if necessary.

In 2010, Zuma called for international sanctions against Mugabe and his allies to be lifted. After a March 2013 meeting with Mugabe in Pretoria, he highlighted the commonalities between his and Mugabe's political parties, telling the press, "We share the same values, we went through the same route... We believe that our positions as former liberation movements need to be consolidated." Despite tensions in later months, as Zuma and SADC attempted to nudge Mugabe towards democratic reforms, the ''Business Day'' reported that relations between the countries remained "cordial" throughout Zuma's presidency.

International Criminal Court

South Africa hosted the 25th Summit of the AU in Johannesburg from 7 to 15 June 2015. It was attended by Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, then a fugitive from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which sought to prosecute him on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. South Africa was a signatory to the Rome Statute, which obliged it to arrest al-Bashir, but instead granted him diplomatic immunity while he attended the summit. While the matter was being adjudicated by a South African High Court, and just after Judge President Dunstan Mlambo ordered al-Bashir's arrest, the state's lawyer told the court that he had left the country. His plane left from Waterkloof Air Force Base, presumably with the government's knowledge and reportedly with Zuma's explicit approval. When it was criticised for this breach, the South African government argued that the ICC was used unfairly against African heads of state while failing to hold Western leaders to the same standards. In 2016, it announced in New York that it was withdrawing from the ICC, and Zuma's administration subsequently tabled legislation to effect the withdrawal.

Mandela's memorial

In a press conference on 5 December 2013, Zuma announced the death of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected president. The memorial took place on 10 December 2013 at FNB Stadium near Soweto. When Zuma entered the stadium parts of the crowd booed him loudly. Ramaphosa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for discipline, with Ramaphosa telling the crowd in Zulu that the country could address its internal disagreements when foreign dignitaries were not present. Some South African commentators said that the crowd's actions were unexpected, and they were widely linked to the ongoing Nkandla scandal, a draft of the Public Protector's provisional report had been leaked the previous week, or to dissatisfaction with Zuma's administration more generally. Others suggested that the booing reflected frustration with the lack of socioeconomic change under the ANC government since Mandela's presidency, or that it reflected enduring divisions within the ANC;The crowd also chanted Mbeki's name. In a public statement, the ANC chastised those who had booed, saying they had embarrassed the country. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was criticised for having cut away from the booing in its live broadcast of the memorial.

Re-election

Despite an "Anyone but Zuma" campaign in the run-up to the ANC's 53rd National Conference, Zuma was re-elected ANC president on 18 December 2012, beating Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe by a large margin. Although in 2008 he had said that he would prefer to serve only one term as president, Zuma became the ANC's sole presidential candidate in the 2014 national election. In January 2014, after he was heckled at Mandela's memorial, the ''Sunday Tribune'' reported that around November 2013, KwaZulu-Natal branches of the ANC had discussed a proposed resolution asking Zuma not to run for a second term as the country's president. However, ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte dismissed rumours of disunity in the ANC saying, "The policy is that the president of the ANC is always the candidate for the election. We don't have another candidate and there will be no other candidate."

The ANC retained its majority in the national election, and on 21 May 2014, the National Assembly elected Zuma to a second term as president.

Nkandla homestead

Zuma began his second term amid ongoing controversy over what were officially security upgrades made with state funds to his private homestead at Nkandla. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela investigated, and in late November 2013 her draft report was leaked to the ''Mail & Guardian.'' Similar to the final version of the report, titled "Secure in Comfort" and released on 19 March 2014, the draft found that some of the Nkandla upgrades exceeded Zuma's security needs and recommended that Zuma should repay the state. The opposition, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and DA applied for legal recourse to compel Zuma to follow the recommendations in Madonsela's report, and the Constitutional Court found in their favour on 31 March 2016. In '' EFF v Speaker; DA v Speaker'', the full court agreed that Madonsela's report was binding, meaning Zuma was required to repay the state for some of the Nkandla upgrades and that Zuma had failed to uphold the country's Constitution. In a public address on 1 April, Zuma welcomed the judgment and apologised to the country, though legal academic Pierre de Vos said that the statement seriously misconstrued the judgment.

The court's finding that Zuma had failed to uphold the Constitution subsequently provided the basis of an impeachment motion in Parliament, which was sponsored by the DA and defeated by a significant margin. However, Zuma faced serious backlash in the aftermath of the Constitutional Court ruling, including criticism from the SACP, civil society, several ANC stalwarts (including Ahmed Kathrada, Ronnie Kasrils, Trevor Manuel, and Cheryl Carolus), and several active factions of the ANC. Before the ruling, Zuma had faced and defeated five motions of no confidence in Parliament, three of which went to a vote. Following the ruling and failed impeachment motion, he faced three more in November 2016, August 2017, and February 2018.

State capture allegations

Zuma's close and allegedly corrupt relationship with the Gupta family, known ANC donors, became a major source of discontent both within the ANC and among the South African public. This relationship received widespread public attention in April 2013 when the media reported that the Guptas had landed an Airbus A330 at Waterkloof Air Force Base without formal authorisation, but was welcomed by a police escort. The political influence of the Guptas was one issue that was thought to have motivated a wave of anti-government protests in October 2015, and at Zuma's February 2016 State of the Nation address, the EFF coined the phrase "Zupta", a portmanteau

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