Jacob Zuma, former South Africa’s president, in key dates

Key dates for South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, who resigned on Wednesday after the ruling ANC party threatened to eject him from office via a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

– April 12, 1942: Zuma is born in rural Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province. He grows up without formal schooling.

– 1963: A member of the armed wing of the ANC, he is convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government and serves 10 years on the Robben Island prison alongside Nelson Mandela.

– 1973: Freed, he sets up underground ANC networks and then is the group’s chief of intelligence from Zambia.

– 1990: After 15 years mostly spent in exile, he returns to South Africa when the ANC is unbanned. He is key in talks that lead to a national unity government after the first all-race elections, in 1994, won by the ANC.

– 1997: He becomes the ANC’s vice president. Two years later he is elected deputy president of the country.

– 2006: He is cleared of rape charges but ridiculed for testifying he took a shower after consensual sex with his HIV-positive accuser.

– 2009: Two years after ousting Thabo Mbeki as ANC leader, he is elected president. He is re-elected in 2014.

– 2016: A top court finds he flouted the constitution by using public funds to upgrade his private residence. An anti-corruption watchdog meanwhile charges he allowed a wealthy Indian business family, the Guptas, undue influence over his government.

– 2017: Zuma fires his finance minister, unleashing open war in the ANC.

– August, 2017: He survives a fourth impeachment vote since 2015.

– December 2017: He is replaced as ANC chief by his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, and comes under pressure to quit the presidency early, ahead of the next elections.

– February 14, 2018: Resigns from the presidency after the ANC threatens a no-confidence vote in parliament.