Zuma inaugurated as President of South Africa

Kiran Mamgain

Pretoria, May 9 (PTI) Controversial politician Jacob Zuma
was Saturday sworn in as President of South Africa at a
ceremony here attended by a number of world leaders, including
Vice President Hamid Ansari.

The 67-year-old charismatic ANC leader, who overcame rape
and graft charges to lead his party to a landslide win in the
April 22 general elections, will be the fourth democratically
elected South African President since apartheid ended in 1994.

Ansari joined a host of other dignitaries in the
impressive ceremony at the top-of-the-hill Union Buildings,
the seat of the government, in this scenic city. Amid chilly
weather brought by morning rains, thousands of people dressed
in colourful traditional attire gathered at the lawns to
witness the event.

The ceremony began with recitation of Gayatri Mantra by a
religious leader. South African Air Force jets staged an
impressive fly-past and a 21-gun salute boomed as supporters
clad in ANC T-shirts danced in joy.

Zuma's inauguration culminated his extraordinary comeback
to the political arena dominated for long by the African
National Congress (ANC), which had swept the April general
elections bagging 264 seats in the 400-member Parliament.

Zuma, also known by his clan name of 'Msholozi', was
elected as President by the country's parliament with a
thumping majority on May 6, following which he had vowed to
work quickly to promote friendship, harmony and bolster the
nation's economy.

The hugely popular ANC leader had polled 277 votes as
against his opponent Mvume Dandala, who got 47 votes in
Parliament in Cape town.

Corruption charges against Zuma, who was accused of
accepting bribes in a French arms scam, were dropped recently
while he was acquitted of raping an HIV-positive family friend
in 2006.

Other than Ansari, 30 other world leaders, including Sri
Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, Britain's
junior foreign minister Mark Malloch Brown as also Zuma's
three predecessors -- anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela,
Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe -- were in attendance in the
inauguration ceremony.

Recalling that his predecessors K R Naryranan, Krishan
Kant and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had all represented India at
the inauguration of South African Presidents since Mandela
became the first head of the state in post-apartheid era,
Ansari yesterday said "this is in keeping up with that
well-established practice."

The ANC has been in power since 1994 when the apartheid
came to an end in South Africa, which is also home to 1.5
million people of Indian-origin.

Zuma, the son of a housekeeper, had vowed during the
electioneering that he would bring "visible change" that would
improve the lives of blacks in the country.

After being elected, he paid a tribute to "our icon"
Nelson Mandela in a letter. Calling him 'Madiba' as the
90-year-old leader is affectionately known, Zuma said "he made
us walk tall and feel proud to be South Africans."

"As President of the Republic, I will do my best to lead
the country towards the realisation of Madiba's vision of a
truly non-sexist, non-racial South Africa, united in its
diversity," he said in the letter posted at the ANC website.

The ANC leader, hailing from the northern KwaZulu-Natal
province, had spent a decade in jail alongside Mandela on
Robben Island in South Africa, a country where Mahatma Gandhi
launched his 'Satyagraha' movement.

In a biography of Zuma released by the ANC, the party
highlighted his humble background, noting that he had dropped
out of school after the death of his father and studied at
night and while herding goats.

Zuma, who became an active member of the ANC during the
anti-apartheid regime, has three wives and 19 children. He is
a traditionalist member of the Zulu tribe, which allows men to
have more than one spouse. PTI