--- title: "Fact check — Was Jacob Zuma’s presidency one of ‘9 amazing years’ as his daughter claims?" description: "In a video circulating on social media, former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is shown being interviewed at the national elections results centre (ROC) after it emerged that the MK party had experienced unprecedented success at the polls." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WATCH THE VIDEO" author: "Rebecca Davis" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/rebeccadavis-2-2/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-05-fact-check-was-jacob-zumas-presidency-one-of-9-amazing-years-as-his-daughter-claims/" published: "2024-06-05T20:18:08" updated: "2024-06-10T07:53:05" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 375 --- # Fact check — Was Jacob Zuma’s presidency one of ‘9 amazing years’ as his daughter claims? > In a video circulating on social media, former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is shown being interviewed at the national elections results centre (ROC) after it emerged that the MK party had experienced unprecedented success at the polls. By Rebecca Davis · Published 5 June 2024, 22:18 SAST · Updated 10 June 2024, 09:53 SAST ## Key points - Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's claim of the Zuma administration's "amazing" governance is met with a reality check as data reveals a stark economic downturn, rising unemployment, lackluster land reform efforts, and increased poverty levels during those nine years. - Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla believes the MK party would bring governance similar to her father's presidency, praising his economic policies. - However, economic data shows a decline in growth, rising unemployment, increased electricity prices, and doubled public debt during Jacob Zuma's tenure. - Land reform was a key focus for Zuma, but budget allocations were minimal, benefiting politically connected individuals. - Research indicates an increase in poverty levels during Zuma's presidency, raising questions about the "amazing" years claimed by Zuma-Sambudla. ## Content [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yxyQXLdrSc) In the video, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is asked by a journalist what kind of governance the MK party would bring to South Africa. She replies: “The same kind of government that we had under President Zuma. Those 9 amazing years: very similar”. In a different interview at the results centre, Zuma-Sambudla says that the MK party would endorse “doing what President Zuma did under his economy, which was great”. [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk-8Zy-oErs) Zuma-Sambudla obviously has a particular political axe to grind, but is there any truth to what she’s saying? On the economy front, it is true that Jacob Zuma’s administration, which began in [2009](https://www.presidency.gov.za/former-president-jacob-zuma), had to deal with the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Even so, however, in 2007, South Africa’s annual economic growth was at [5.4%.](https://www.resbank.co.za/en/home/publications/publication-detail-pages/reports/annual-economic-reports/2007/3213) During the Zuma years, [from 2009 to 2017](https://saiia.org.za/research/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-an-economic-review-of-zumas-presidency/), that growth collapsed to around 1.5% annually. It is impossible to blame the global economic crisis [for nine years of depressed economic activity.](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-01-29-zumas-conveniently-forgotten-nine-wasted-years/) During the same period, [unemployment rose from 22.5% to 27.5%.](https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/298278/what-south-africa-lost-in-the-9-wasted-years-under-zuma/) Electricity prices rose by 350% and total public debt doubled. When Zuma took power in 2009, the number of service delivery protests as measured by [Municipal IQ stood at 106 per year](https://www.cogta.fs.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Community_Protests_SA.pdf). By 2018, this had more than doubled to [237 per year](https://mg.co.za/news/2023-02-02-data-shows-that-service-delivery-protests-will-increase-intensify-in-2023/#:~:text=In%202018%20and%202019%2C%20protests,crime%20statistics%20released%20in%20November.). Land reform is another issue that MK party representatives claim Zuma paid more attention to than any other leader. But by the last year of the Zuma presidency, the [budget for land reform](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45099915) was at an all-time low, with less than 0.1% of the national budget set aside for land redistribution. A presidential advisory panel appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he took office after Zuma [found that](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-02-21-with-billions-budgeted-for-land-reform-major-beneficiaries-have-been-wealthier-men-parliament-hears/) the major beneficiaries of the land reform programme to that point had been politically connected urban businessmen. Lastly, on poverty, former president Kgalema Motlanthe led [a high-level panel](https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/Pages/2017/october/High_Level_Panel/HLP_Report/HLP_report.pdf) in 2017 looking into various issues. This found that the percentage of South Africans living below the [food poverty line](https://databankfiles.worldbank.org/public/ddpext_download/poverty/987B9C90-CB9F-4D93-AE8C-750588BF00QA/current/Global_POVEQ_ZAF.pdf) increased from 21.4% in 2011 to 25.2% by 2015. It is unclear, in other words, exactly what metrics Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is relying on when she claims that the Zuma administration amounted to nine “amazing” years for South Africans. **DM** [Media on Daily Maverick: "Election results question"](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-05-fact-check-was-jacob-zumas-presidency-one-of-9-amazing-years-as-his-daughter-claims/)