Zuma party rolls on, 25 cows face the chop for village feast

Jun 2, 2009, 11:07 GMT

Johannesburg - A month after being sworn in as president South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is still celebrating his ascension to the top office.

Zuma has been criss-crossing the country 'to thank South Africans' for their support in April's general elections, in which his African National Congress was re-elected.

The parties take the form of ANC rallies, where Zuma usually entertains his audiences with revolutionary songs and vigorous Zulu or pop dancing.

At a party in Soweto township outside Johannesburg last month, he got the crowd bopping to a presidential rendition of his trademark Umshini Wami (Bring me my Machine Gun) song.

This weekend, the action moves to his home village of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, where 25 cows are to be slaughtered for a feast which the organizers are calling 'the mother of all parties,' the South African Press Association reported.

The party, which will be held in a local school, had been due to take place immediately after Zuma's inauguration on May 9 but had to be delayed because of his other commitments.

Zuma faces one of his first major tests as president this week when he gives his first State of the Nation speech on Wednesday at the opening of parliament in Cape Town.