Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma became the president of South Africa in 2009. Before ascending to the presidency, he had been at the center of several scandals, including a rape charge, for which he was acquitted in 2005, and charges of racketeering and corruption, which were dropped in 2009. He became involved in the African National Congress (ANC) in 1959 and four years later he was arrested and convicted of conspiring to overthrow the white minority-led Apartheid government. He served 10 years in the prison on Robben Island, along with Nelson Mandela and other ANC members.