It was once the seat of apartheid, but today, when Pretoria held its presidential inauguration at the Union Buildings, supporters of President Jacob Zuma poured into the city in blinding rain to mark the biggest day of “JZ: 100 per cent Zulu Boy.”

While outside South Africa, Zuma’s corruption charges, polygamy and three first ladies occupy much column space — finally all three wives were there but only the eldest sat on the podium with him — at home, his popularity is hard to miss.

About 30,000 people are estimated to have come to Pretoria to watch on public screens the inauguration ceremony attended by Nelson Mandela and dignitaries from all over the world, including India’s Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

His swearing-in was followed by Izobongo, a ritual held in praise of Zulu kings and chieftains. If on previous rallies, Zuma would sing the Zulu anthem Bring me my machine gun, today he went down on his knees to Mandela, seeking his blessings.

“The Western media is focusing only on the corruption charges but there’s more to Zuma than that,” says Fatima Meer, an academic and a leading anti-apartheid activist who wrote Higher than Hope, the first authorised biography of Nelson Mandela. “You know the African National Congress is very much like the Indian National Congress. It came with a lot of promise but delivered many disappointments. I am hoping with Zuma becoming President, things will take a U-turn. He... comes from the bottom rung and I hope he can do something for the poor,” says Meer, whose well-known family in Durban has roots in Gujarat and who wrote the screenplay for Shyam Benegal’s The Making of the Mahatma, based on her book.

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