Zuma: South Africa's comeback kid

A lifetime of service to the ANC, almost undone by scandal

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was elected leader of the African National Congress, with a majority that political analyst Adam Habib described as "an emphatic endorsement".

Normally, this would put him in pole position to become South Africa's next president, in elections due in 2009.

Prosecutors have now confirmed what was long suspected: that Mr Zuma is to stand trial again on charges of corruption, racketeering and tax evasion.

Just two years ago, his political career was all but written off, when he was battling sleazy allegations of rape and corruption.

Mr Zuma was acquitted of rape, and the corruption case against him was put on hold.

His friends say the accusations against him were politically motivated and it was not long before support rallied again around him.

Before being elected ANC leader, Mr Zuma said that new corruption charges would not cause him to stand down from his office, unless he were convicted.

It seems likely that many of his supporters will see the latest charges as just a temporary setback, and stand by him.

School of hard knocks

Mr Zuma's supporters have never doubted that he had the popular touch. They contrast him to President Thabo Mbeki, seen as rather aloof.

Popular support for Zuma was unwavering though the court cases

"He is a man who listens; he doesn't take the approach of an intellectual king", said one unnamed supporter, in an apparent swipe at Mr Mbeki.

Born in 1942 and brought up by his widowed mother in Zululand, Jacob Zuma had no formal schooling.

He joined the ANC at the age of 17, becoming an active member of its military wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe, in 1962.

He was convicted of conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government and was imprisoned for 10 years on the notorious Robben Island.

Mr Zuma subsequently left South Africa, living first in Mozambique, then Zambia as he rose through the ANC ranks to the executive committee.

He became one of the first leaders to return home in 1990 - when the ban on the ANC was removed - to take part in negotiations with the white minority government.

Man of the people

He credits his political awakening to a family member who was an active trade unionist and throughout his political career, Mr Zuma has championed the rights of ordinary people.

His supporters believe the man they call JZ will redistribute South Africa's wealth in favour of the poor.

They say Mr Mbeki has been too business-friendly and presided over "jobless growth"

But he has told the BBC that he would not change the ANC's economic policy.

"The ANC is going to move as it moves, and change its leadership as the time comes, but keeping its direction - so nothing is going to change."

The female factor

Securing the endorsement of the ANC Women's League - in defiance of an earlier league decision to put forward a female candidate for the party leadership - will have given a great boost to the Zuma campaign.

Some analysts had predicted he would divide the women's vote, with many unwilling to forgive him for the admission that he had unprotected sex with the HIV-positive family friend at the centre of the rape case.

A Zuma resurgence saw Thabo Mbeki (l) lose the ANC leadership

His statement that he showered afterwards to guard against possible infection provoked public criticism and ridicule in equal measure.

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge says his apology appeared to do little to dilute the charge that Mr Zuma's judgement and integrity are questionable.

And yet his popularity is undiminished.

The outcome of the nominations process has been described on the Friends of Jacob Zuma website as having "confounded the analysts, revealing that the media and political commentators are out of touch with sentiment in the ANC."