Zuma

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was born on 12 April 1942 at Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal (then Zululand), and is the child of Nobhekisisa Bessie and Gcinamazwi Zuma . He was the first born of five children from his father's second wife. His father worked as policeman. Soon after the father passed away, he and his mother left for his mother’s parental home in Maphumulo. Zuma began herding cattle when other children his age went to school. When there was little work in Nkandla, Zuma traveled to his mother in the suburbia of Durban, where she worked as a home-based worker. During this period, when chance arose, Zuma worked odd jobs in shops.

Zuma started to be politically stimulated at a adolescent age by stories of the Bambatha Rebellion as they were retold by men who had resided through the period of the rebellion. But, probably the greatest impact came from his step-brother Muntukabongwa Zuma. His brother had fought in World War II and later became a trade union activist and a member of the ANC. Furthermore, while visiting Cator Manor and Greyville, Zuma saw ANC volunteers in uniforms doing political work. Consequently, he begun attending their organisation’s meetings.

In accordance to Zuma, in an autobiographical for the South African Communist Party (SACP), he put and influenced an anti-pass campaign in the Noxamalala district in the Nkandla region. In 1959, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). That exact same year he became a member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), and began attending ANC and trade union meetings at Lakhani Chambers in Durban.

A plan was conceived by MK to send out 45 new recruits out of the country for military exercising. Zuma was part of this group. The plan to board the ‘Freedom Train’ to Zambia was discovered by the security police who organised an operation to detain the group. In June 1963, as the group set out on a journey to Botswana, Zuma, together with others, was imprisoned in the Groot Marico area near Zeerust, in the Western Transvaal (now North West).

Zuma was detained under the 90-day detention law in solitary confinement at Hercules police station and then he was moved to other prisons like Marastad jail and Pretoria Central Prison. He was interrogated and beaten, even though the police actually had sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. The trial was held at the Pretoria Old Synagogue with Judge Fritz Steyn as the presiding judge. On 12 August 1963, Zuma was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail for conspiring to overthrow the government at the age of 21. Along with several of his comrades, he was taken from Pretoria to Leeukop Prison outside Pretoria before being transferred to Robben Island to serve his sentence. The vehicle stopped for an overnight sleep in Colesberg to collect other prisoners. It was here that Zuma met Ibrahim Ibrahim.

On Robben Island, Zuma slept in the general section with a group of between 30 and 50 other prisoners and worked in the blue rock quarry digging and crushing slate for the building of more prison cells. He was among the prisoners from Natal who initiated political study organizations. He also served in a number of positions in ANC structures, which incorporated being a group leader, a Public Relations Officer, cell leader and Chairman of the Political Committee. After prisoners struggled for more rights in prison, sport was eventually authorized. Zuma also played football while on the Island and rose to become captain of the Rangers, a team that he played for. He has been also part of a choral and classic dance, cultural group