PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma yesterday traditionally married his fifth wife, Thobeka Stacey Mabija, at his homestead in eNkandla, a remote village in deep rural KwaZulu- Natal.

The colourful wedding ceremony was conducted in true Zulu style, with men and women from both families performing ancient Zulu warrior call-and-response songs and dances in the centre of an open field outside Zuma’s homestead.

Mabija, clad in traditional regalia – including a Louis Vuitton turban – accepted Zuma as her husband by performing a solo dance brandishing a shiny panga, spear and a shield in the middle of the open field.

The age-old matrimonial dance meant she accepted Zuma as her husband and was now part of his clan. An overjoyed Zuma, dressed in a leopard-skin skirt and matching headgear, could not contain himself and eventually he rose up to dance at her side .

About 3000 people, including traditional leaders and VIP guests, whistled and clapped hands as the couple bumped hips .

Despite intermittent rain, South Africa’s “who’s who” joined in the celebrations, including KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize, iNkosi Mandla Mandela, musician Yvonne Chaka Chaka and her husband Tiny Mhinga, and glamorous Aids activist Chriselda Kananda.

After the ceremony guests went to a huge marquee for beef stew, fish and an array of sumptuous traditional delicacies. Several sheep, goats and cows were slaughtered .

Zuma paid lobola to Mabija in 2007 when he was still ANC deputy president.

He has three children with Mabija, also known as Madiba, a glamorous Durban socialite who used to work for Cell C in Durban. She hogged the headlines in 2007 when she was overheard boasting that she was going to be South Africa’s First Lady .

She has attended a number of official State functions with Zuma.

While the couple are already married under South African law, yesterday’s ceremony was meant to introduce the bride to Zuma’s clan elders and the ancestors in order to bless the union.

The President, 68, is a proud Zulu and has repeatedly defended polygamy despite those who sneer at the practice as outdated, especially in the age of Aids.

Zuma has been married at least four times and is father to more than a dozen children. He is still married to his first wife, Sizakele Khumalo, who he met in 1959.

They had no children as he went into exile for many years shortly after the marriage .

While serving the ANC in exile in the 1980s, Zuma took two other brides – Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, then a paediatrician in Swaziland , and Kate Mantsho Zuma, then a Mozambican airline staffer.