Berkley Center

I received my first impression of Jacob Zuma, current president of South Africa, from a BBC online article the week before I left for Cape Town. The title read, “South Africa President Jacob Zuma marries third wife.” I found it surprising and intriguing. I had not known that polygamy was present in South Africa, let alone that the country’s leader had multiple wives. As I read the article, I tried to keep my reactions in check, not wanting to pre-judge my home for the next five months with a Eurocentric mindset. However, it was difficult to suppress my Western liberalist perspective as I read about Zuma’s possible plans to marry a fourth wife in the near future. The article indicated that South Africans are divided over his decision to practice polygamy, as many young people believe it is inconsistent with South Africa’s modern values. I finished the article and became increasingly eager to arrive in South Africa to start learning more about the country’s current political debates, including the practices of their leader.

I did not have to wait long, as a discussion about Zuma began during my very first class on African gender. The professor posted two pictures, one of the former president, Thabo Mbeki, dressed in a professional business suit and the other of President Zuma dressed in traditional Zulu attire. Professor Jane Bennett asked the question, “How do these two men differ in their appeals to the public?” People commented that one was the reflection of a Western business professional, while the other seemed to honor his culture and heritage. I started to see how the question of Jacob Zuma’s ability to represent South Africa as a nation did not simply amount to a consideration of the legitimacy of polygamy as a practice, but instead paralleled deeper questions about the relationship between the diversity of indigenous tradition in South Africa and Western notions of modernity.

After drawing my own conclusions and hearing an academic perspective, I wanted to see how this debate played out among some of my South African peers. Luckily I soon had my first politics discussion section and the first question out of the teaching assistant’s mouth was about our reaction to Zuma’s recent "State of the Nation" address. And that was when all chaos broke loose.

The 20 or so other students in my class, all either South African or Zimbabwean, launched into a heated debate, yelling across the room, nearly ignoring the teaching assistant’s questions about the actual text of the speech. A girl immediately brought up polygamy, commenting that it is ridiculous and embarrassing that Jacob Zuma has multiple wives. She stated that it makes South Africa look primitive. A boy shot back that it is his culture, and he has a right to represent his traditions. Another said that Zuma is a man, and so it is understandable he would want to satisfy his desires within the law's limits. The discussion shifted to the abilities of Zuma as a leader. Some students stated that he had performed averagely so far, making important promises but not necessarily acting on them. Others contended that he was an absolute failure, pushing South Africa, which is now the world’s most unequal country in terms of income, further into recession and poverty. A few people wondered out loud, “Why did we elect him in the first place? Only in South Africa…”

I walked out of class with my head spinning, taking in the debate I had just heard. I realized that in South Africa, as in the United States, political issues are not black and white, and the diversity of opinions among the population is prevalent. Further, in South Africa, the debates are exacerbated by the expectations of a population, who, after waiting to be freed from an oppressive apartheid regime for decades, has come to demand the dignified standard of living they were promised. The evaluation of Jacob Zuma as a leader, or more importantly as a representation of South Africa’s identity, is only one part of this ongoing political struggle. I hope that in the coming months I will continue to unravel the complexities of living and learning in the South African political sphere.