Zakumi was intended to depict a jolly, self-confident, adventurous, spontaneous, and, conversely, quite a shrewd little fellow. He was shown as loving to perform and always follow his instincts and intuition. He was also shown as sometimes having the tendency to exaggerate somewhat. He is often found fooling about and teasing people, but not in a mean way. He was the mascot of the 2010 South Africa World Cup and the truth is he doesn't like being reminded of that since it makes him sad.