Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, who has won a bitter contest to become president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), happily admits to being a polygamist.

An unashamed Zulu traditionalist, he once famously told a television interviewer: “There are plenty of politicians who have mistresses and children that they hide so as to pretend they're monogamous. I prefer to be open. I love my wives and I'm proud of my children.”

Mr Zuma has recognised at least 18 children from four “official” wives and several girlfriends. Two children have been born since his acquittal in a notorious rape trial last year.

Indeed, while he now looks virtually certain to become the country next President when Thabo Mbeki's term ends in 2009, commentators say the question of who would be first lady is much more difficult to answer.

Sex, virility and loyalty are intimately linked to one of the most remarkable political comebacks in recent history. They have helped Mr Zuma, a charismatic populist with impeccable liberation struggle credentials, to hone his image as an expansive African “Big Man” politician, champion of the poor and oppressed.

Two years ago he was on the ropes. Sacked by President Mbeki as Deputy President of the country after he was linked to a multibillion-pound arms scandal, he was charged first with corruption and bribery and then, in a separate case, the daughter of a family friend accused him of rape.

His enemies, including virtually all of the country's political intelligentsia, gleefully counted him out, but allies smelt a rat. They alleged a plot by supporters of Mr Mbeki, whose cold and Machiavellian image is in sharp contrast to the glad-handing Zulu chieftain, to discredit Mr Zuma in an attempt to hang on to power after 2009.

In Mr Zuma's traditional constituencies of teeming black urban townships and poor rural areas, the accusations rang true. In such places, where much of the population still lives in grinding poverty 13 years after the end of apartheid, there is little love for the scholarly Mr Mbeki, who is noticeably ill at ease with the masses.

Mr Zuma, backed by the powerful trade union movement and militant youth league opposed to the Government's free market policies, returned to his grassroots.

Blessed with a Clintonesque common touch, much of which comes from his own humble background, he is adored by many ordinary people whose frustration he articulates so well.

The tide turned in his favour when the corruption charges were thrown out on a technicality in late 2005. Then, last May he was acquitted in the rape case, albeit after admitting that he had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman half his age and daughter of a family friend who came to him for support. He was reinstated to ANC duties.

Prosecutors have said that they might charge him again. But they have taken so long sharpening the case that they have simply reinforced the belief that it is politically inspired. Mr Zuma is now within a whisker of presidential immunity and may push for early national elections.

His promises of a better life for the impoverished forgotten of a country enjoying the longest period of economic growth in its history reverberate much more loudly with the masses than damaging courtroom revelations about his financial rectitude or failure to wear a condom.

Packed assembly halls across the country swayed to the Zuma anthem, Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machinegun), a throwback to the days when Mr Zuma was a leader of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). As the unstoppable “Zumani” gathered pace, more and more ANC insiders defected to his side. He offered them all a home, in contrast to Mr Mbeki who is intolerant and ruthless with dissenters.

Mr Zuma, son of a domestic worker who was widowed when he was three, is much more than a populist politician. He is also an astute ANC insider who spent ten years on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and the other “grandees” of the movement. He reportedly cheered them up with songs and impromptu theatre when they were depressed.

Taken to task for singing a battle song out of keeping with the new South Africa, he replied that the ANC had no policy on song-singing and deftly turned the issue into an appeal to respect past traditions.

“Many died, many went to prison. We must remember them — if not we are bound to fail,” he told The Times. It was a clear swipe at the current administration whose BMW and Mercedes-driving black middle-class supporters are accused of forgetting their roots.

Mr Zuma, who has no formal education, joined the ANC aged 17. Like President Mbeki, he has served it all his life, much of it in exile in Mozambique and Zambia.

He is undoubtedly a master politician, one of the few who can combine township militancy and traditional African values — one day punching the air at an ANC rally, the next dancing in a leopard-skin loincloth at a Zulu village ceremony.

His home at Nklanda district in KwaZulu-Natal always is awash with visitors ranging from down-and-out villagers to foreign dignitaries. Like a Mafia godfather he grants them all an audience, rarely resorting to a mobile telephone or e-mail. He has the unwavering support of South Africa's 11 million Zulus, the country's largest single tribe, who have not forgotten how he ended a bloody civil war in the region in the early 1990s.

As the bitter battle for the ANC leadership began to swing his way, he set out on a charm offensive to assure business leaders that fears of a change in policy were unfounded. They were apparently pleasantly surprised by his warm personality.

Few people now fear him and frequent trips abroad have assured foreign investors that South Africa will remain committed to business-friendly economic policies.

Michael Spicer, of Business Leadership in Africa, said: “It is more a question of style than substance. Zuma cannot possibly deliver all he has promised but he represents a desire for change. I don't think economic policy or government would in fact change very much.”

The wives, former wives and lovers

The No 1 He is still married to his first wife, Sizakele Khumalo, whom he met in 1959. The painfully shy “MaKhumalo” lives at his homestead in Nklanda, KwaZulu-Natal. He has no children with her, but has publicly praised her and she is favourite to be “first lady”

The ex Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma divorced him in 1998. Now Foreign Minister and an Mbeki ally, she has four daughters with Mr Zuma.

The late wife Before committing suicide in 2000, Kate Zuma had five children with Mr Zuma

The city wife Mantuli Zuma married Mr Zuma five years ago. She has a daughter, 5, and seven-month-old son with him but prefers to keep out of the spotlight.

The latest wife Mr Zuma recently paid lobolo (a dowry) to the clan of Thobeka Stacy Mabhija, 35, with whom he has two children. The second is 3 months old. Ms Mabhija, who works at a mobile phone company, is an elegant woman known for her designer outfits

The old flame Minah Shongwe, sister of Judge Jeremiah Shongwe, who asked to be recused from Mr Zuma’s rape trial because of the liaison. She has a son, Edward, 30, with Mr Zuma

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