Zuma sworn in as South African president

Jacob Zuma officially became South Africa’s new president today.

The 67-year-old, the fourth president since apartheid ended 15 years ago, enjoys a popularity often compared to Nelson Mandela’s.

Many impoverished black South Africans believe his personal battles and eventual triumph give him special insight into their own struggles and aspirations.

He survived corruption and sex scandals and an internal power struggle so vicious that it led to a split in his African National Congress party.

The ANC won last month’s parliamentary elections and Mr Zuma was elected president by parliament on Wednesday.

After he signed the oath of office today, a Zulu praise singer in traditional animal skins and pink feathers took to the stage to extoll the new leader’s virtues.

A crowd of tens of thousands had broken into spontaneous song when Mr Zuma arrived for the ceremony in Pretoria, beaming and accompanied by his senior wife, Sizakele Khumalo.

His unabashed polygamy has raised questions about which of his three current wives may act as First Lady.

Today, all three were reported to be present but only Ms Khumalo accompanied him to the stage, where he dropped down on to his knees before Mr Mandela in a traditional sign of respect.

Sydney Mokoena, a 48-year-old Pretoria high school teacher, woke his 10-year-old daughter, Thula, at 4.30am to get to the lawns of the presidential compound early.

He said he admired Mr Zuma for the calm he showed during his legal battles over corruption allegations which have now been dropped and a 2006 rape trial that ended with acquittal.

Mr Mokoena also said that, while Mr Zuma may not have had much formal education, his leadership of the ANC’s intelligence wing during the anti-apartheid struggle was proof he was smart enough to be president.

Mr Zuma will be “a dynamic and vibrant president”, Mr Mokoena said. “That’s what South Africa needs. He’s down to earth and he’ll listen.”

Mr Mokoena laughed when Thula said she hoped for a glimpse of Mr Mandela. Frail at 90 years old, the former president makes few appearances, but he arrived for today’s inauguration in a golf cart to applause, wolf whistles and the announcer’s cheer of “Viva Mandela, Viva.”

“We can have three or four or five presidents – people will still be talking about Mandela,” Mr Mokoena said.

Mr Mandela and Mr Zuma share rural roots and an easy warmth in crowds, although Mr Zuma’s origins are much humbler.

Mr Mandela has ties to Xhosa tribal royalty and was groomed for leadership from an early age, attending some of the best schools and universities then open to blacks and earning a law degree.

Mr Zuma herded cows instead of attending school as a boy, began working as a teenager to help his impoverished family, and rose through the trade union movement and the African National Congress guerrilla force.