The front-runner to be South Africa's next President is an unconventional candidate. Since 2005, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma has been sacked as Deputy President, tried and acquitted of rape and embroiled in a corruption scandal over defense contracts which might yet come to court. (Zuma maintains his innocence.) He has somewhere between three and six wives (he refuses to confirm the exact number) and a total of 17 children by nine women. At rallies of his supporters, he sings the Zulu anthem: Bring Me My Machine (gun).
Yet Zuma, 65, is currently the only political figure in South...