Jacob Zuma summary

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Jacob Zuma, (born April 12, 1942, Nkandla, S.Af.), President of South Africa (2009–18). He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1959 and its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), in 1962. He was arrested the next year and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1975 he fled the country, and he continued to work for the ANC while based in neighbouring countries; he returned in 1990. In December 1997 he was elected deputy president of the ANC, and in June 1999 he was appointed deputy president of the country. He was dismissed from both positions in 2005 following charges of corruption, which were eventually dropped. He was elected president of the ANC in 2007—a position he held until 2017—and president of the country in 2009. Under pressure from the ANC, he resigned as president of South Africa in 2018. In 2024, he became president of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party), a political party that had been formed in the previous year. He was expelled from the ANC in July 2024 for his involvement with the MK Party, which was “contrary to the aims, policies and objectives of the ANC.”

African National Congress Summary

African National Congress (ANC), South African political party and Black nationalist organization. Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, it had as its main goal the maintenance of voting rights for Coloureds (persons of mixed race) and Black Africans in Cape Province. It

African National Congress: At a Glance Summary

The African National Congress (ANC) is a South African political party and Black nationalist organization. The party received a majority of the vote in the first election it contested, in 1994, and every one after until 2024, when its support fell to about 40 percent. It was founded in 1912 as the

president Summary

President, in government, the officer in whom the chief executive power of a nation is vested. The president of a republic is the head of state, but the actual power of the president varies from country to country; in the United States, Africa, and Latin America the presidential office is charged

government Summary

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not