Zuma vows to 'fulfil dreams' of South Africans

Jacob Zuma was sworn in as South Africa’s new president today, and vowed to work to fulfil the dreams of all his people amid a global economic meltdown after he overcame corruption and sex scandals to reach the nation’s highest office.

Tens of thousands of spectators screamed their approval, dignitaries applauded and a Zulu praise singer in traditional animal skins extolled the virtues of the new leader, whose popularity rivals only that of Nelson Mandela.

“The dreams and hopes of all the people of our country must be fulfilled,” Mr Zuma promised. “There is no place for complacency, no place for cynicism, no place for excuses.”

South Africa’s fourth president since apartheid ended 15 years ago is no stranger to struggle. The 67-year-old is a former guerrilla fighter and intelligence chief of the African National Congress who has since survived corruption and sex scandals and an internal power struggle within his party.

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

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

A fleet of helicopters carrying South Africa’s red, green and blue flags flew over the ceremony, cannons boomed and a military brass band broke into the anthem God Bless Africa.

Mr Zuma took a military salute as fighter jets streaming coloured smoke zoomed above as the sun broke through clouds.

The crowd of tens of thousands had broken into spontaneous song when Mr Zuma arrived for the ceremony, 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 Zuma now leads a country where at least a quarter of the workforce is unemployed and 1,000 people die of Aids every day.

He is promising to speed up delivery of houses, clinics, schools, running water and electricity. But he has also acknowledged the difficulties amid a global economic meltdown. According to government figures this week, 208,000 jobs were lost between the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Today, he acknowledged the “difficult economic times” and that “we are beginning to feel the pinch”. But he said “the foundations of our economy are strong and we need to continue to build on them” through more hard work than ever.

Today’s inauguration is a remarkable milestone for a man who once herded livestock in the rural Zulu heartland. His father was a policeman who died when he was a boy. His mother worked as a maid in the coastal city of Durban. He was denied a formal education and by 15 was doing odd jobs to help support his family.

He joined the ANC in 1959 and at 21 was arrested while trying to leave the country illegally. He was jailed for 10 years on Robben Island, alongside Mr Mandela and other heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. It was there that he continued with his schooling and began making a name for himself among ANC prisoners.

He left South Africa in 1975 for 15 years of exile spent in neighbouring Swaziland, Mozambique and Zambia, where he was appointed chief of the ANC’s intelligence department. Following the lifting of the ANC ban in 1990, Zuma was one of the first leaders to return to South Africa.

He was appointed deputy president in 1999 by Thabo Mbeki, who fired him in 2005 when he was implicated in the corruption trial of a close friend and financial adviser.

Mr Mbeki later lost a bitter power struggle with Mr Zuma for the party leadership and was eventually forced last year to yield the presidency to an interim successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, until this year’s election.

Prosecutors lifted the last obstacle in his path last month when they announced that they were dropping corruption charges against him, saying the case had been manipulated for political reasons and the criminal charges would never be revived.