JZ has now put 20 candles on the cake of his loins. Twenty kids, five wives (or are there more yet?) and a whole lot of polygamous loving going on (wife or not). He very obviously has multiple wives, but he also has multiple partners — the latest baby’s mother was not married to him (yet). He knowingly had sex with an HIV-positive women, spawning not children but the infamous shower above his head in Zapiro cartoons. He’s 67, not exactly in his sexual prime, but thisindoda ain’t stopping. He’s like the energiser bunny.
Now enough of the jest — like a celebrity, President Zuma’s sexual behaviour is not private. He was elected as a representative for where we want South Africa to go in the future. His sexual life speaks volumes about his commitment to achieving an HIV-free, single-partner sexual culture. As far as I can see, he is not committed at all.
He is obviously not keen on using condoms, despite the fact that condom use is South Africa’s primary strategy to stop the spread of HIV and other STIs. The fact that he is often in pursuit of young women is part of a broader South African problem with “sugar daddies”. One of the major contributors to the spread of HIV among young women is a culture that encourages them to have sex with much older men, in pursuit of the benefits of financial security that come with it. Unfortunately the older the man, the more likely he is to have had multiple sexual partners, and the more likely he is (especially if he doesn’t use condoms) to have contracted an STI or many STIs. In addition, there is a huge power imbalance between old men and younger women, and I bet that that power imbalance is further strengthened when the old man is the president. There is nearly a 30-year age gap between him and the mother of his 20th child. His behaviour represents the acceptance of a dangerous sexual culture.
He has multiple concurrent partners which is again, a major barrier to the spread of HIV. Any person with limited mathematical ability will tell you that the more people you have unprotected sex with, the more likely you are to contract something or share what you have with many other people. And unlike chocolates, these are things that you should not be sharing.
His behaviour is bad for South Africa’s sexual environment, as well as the physical environment. If everyone did as he did, we’d have an even more drastic overpopulation problem than we do have already. South Africa simply doesn’t have the capacity to deal with more people, and as those people grow older to provide jobs for them.
I’m losing tolerance now, and it is time for President Zuma to answer for his actions without his trademark laugh. It is time to be serious about his responsibility as a leader and a role model. If he doesn’t, I’m scared for the type of future South Africa will have.
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83 Responses to “Zuma is part of the problem”
“…If he doesn’t, I’m scared for the type of future South Africa will have.”
What future, Jennifer?
@Jennifer: “He is obviously not keen on using condoms….”. So are most men (and women??).
But..Don’t try to hang this all on Zuma or his culture. The man is a self confessed true African of the Zulu tribe.
All men, not of the Zule tribe, hands up if you have fathered a child out of wedlock!! 10%? 30%? Did you include the secretly aborted ones??
I don’t think it is just a Zulu thing. When our famous Royalty Prins Bernhard (Dutch) died, he left some money for the 2 or 3 children, somewhere in the world, he had fathered. Best kept secret in Holland.
Come on people, grow up. Morals? What morals? Only on Sunday mornings when the church bells ring.
How come that many South Africans have black blood in their DNA? From looking at each other?
Well said - and sadly, I too am scared of the type of future which seems to be in the making for SOuth Africa .
It’s way past time to step up, stand tall, apologize (maybe - hopefully) and actually take responsibility for wrongdoing, in all fields
When Zuma got elected he was already a polygamist everybody knew it. For a man to marry a woman she has to become a girlfriend first no matter how short a period.Zumas sex life has not changed since before his election. Please dont tag this to his presidency.To black people who voted Zuma In Polygamy is acceptable admired even. The women have free choice. Ms Khoza is an educated modern woman who certainly knows her way around town. All these women are adults.
I note SA has been keen to denigrate anything Zulu.The ceremony with the bull and now this. Polygamy is allowed in SA to court a girl and sleep with her while married is part of getting your next wife.You will scream till the cows come home but this battle you will not win.Polygamy is not just a Zulu culture- its a HUMAN Culture- ask John Terry, Tiger woods, Bill clinton Senator John Edwards and South Australian Prime minister Mike Rann.
Wish I could afford many wives.-there I said it
Talking about mathematical ability: the chance of not getting aids is 3 in 10 000. Put another way, if you have unprotected sex with an hiv-positive person just once, you only have 3 chances out of 10k of not getting aids. Now who is that lucky? Nobody!
You can bet he stays for a 2nd term. He needs our tax money. Cultural superiority is not the reason I’m critical - my problem is the inability of Zuma to support 20 kids.
Well written Jennifer. I just feel the Davos interview came a week too soon. It is indeed frightening when government policy dictates one thing and the ruler is deaf to the cause.
Totally…he is not the role model a president should be. Quite a shift from Madiba! Zuma’s integrity is questionable. Can we as citizens of SA actually trust him?
Agreed wholeheartedly. Why are Zulu men allowed to claim “culture” as the right to promiscuity and make it OK as a result? Very sexist to say the least - of course white women will be castigated for criticising, but I don’t care. This man is out of control and exploiting his position.
Well said Jennifer. It is a disgrace and embarrassment to us as a nation - but the reality is the majority of citizens don’t care. So we’ll just sweep it under the carpet and add it to the list of frustations we live with daily in sunny South Africa.
His leadership has never inspired me from the beggining, personally I don’t like the guy. He has not done a thing ever since he became the president. Where is his corruption hotline? Was the hotline a publicity stunts to score some cheap political points and lure objects of desire to bed as sexual preys? He is a liability to the tax payers and a bad influence to the poor. Can somebody stand up and recall him before it is too late? This country is heading into an abyss. I hate to say this but I miss the leadership of T-bos.
I listened to a speech yesterday by Julius M. I needed to start my week feeling good - thank you Julius, your speech(?) was hilarious to say the least. Especially your comments on JZ private life.
Your ANCYL’s call for ‘one boyfriend to one girlfriend’ is commendable as a preventative to HIV/AIDS. But tell me Julius, if boyfriend marries long-standing girlfriend, does that qualify him to marry others (polygamy)and have as many children as he is capable of helping to produce. Keep up the good work Julius - you are the perfect example of a court jester who sits at the feet of his master.
Well said Jennifer!!
JZ is an example of how NOT to behave, more especially as the president of a country where overpopulation, poverty and HIV/AIDS is rife.
Wasn’t he also in charge or moral regeneration a short while ago?
Another point to ponder is the burden that multiple wives places on the taxpayer!
The ANC may consider JZ’s private life private, but it becomes a very public concern when we have to pay for his unacceptable lifestyle!
Enough already!!
Your article entitled ” Zuma is part of the problem” is more of a typical Eurocentric approach to Afrocentric affairs. My point of departure is that we are different and will always be different. The Zuma sexual question is nothing else but expediency protected by some racial solidaity of a special kind. Look, President Zuma is an African man, maybe you should research about his backround and be able to make a good and informed jugdement about the man. I think it is very much unfair to be on the President’case in a negative way now and then. Do you want him to behave like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or George Bush? Hell No!!! . Zuma is an honest man, no hipocrisy in him. Please leave the man alone, let him enjoy his life.
while other leaders where grilled about the intricates of this capitalism and what it has brought about and how to get out of it, ours was grilled on the intricates of this ‘culture’ and what is has brought about,,,,,it is a scary thought that one of our possible future president (if things continue this way) had this to say:”Zuma is our elder, we are not qualified to talk about that”, challenges our leadership is faced with seem to be going from the frying pan into the actual fire, hhayi kulukhuni madoda!, to all the soldiers fighting in the forefront on hiv/aids wars dawn is approaching as Zuli’s would put it; just before one sees the light of the new day it gets even darker, we shall overcome, singajindi majita!
If he or she very desperately wants a child or another child, why don’t they adopt one of the thousands of poor Zulu orphan children? That would be a good move for the child, the communit and the country! And it might encourage others to do the same instead of bringing yet another child into an impoverished area.
The age-gap between father and child is a whooping 65. So unfair for the child! Anyway that is beside the point; I like President Zuma; he is an affable, charming man whose laugh comes from the belly up, but it sometimes irritatingly comes for no apparent reason; to hide some embarrassment; or in the place of an answer to a legitimate but difficult question. It is tragic that his good qualities are overshadowed by an equally good doze of uncomfortable questions about his choices (mainly personal). From journalists asking him if he was a crook to questions about his wives and the now familiar showerhead; it is not a good representation any leader would want of themselves and equally, the citizens he leads would prefer a much better representation of their President. However this little fact seem to escape both the President and the ANC. When the President is in Davos and anywhere else, he represents the face of South Africa today; we get judged (fairly or unfairly) by what he says and does. The harm caused or even the benefits may not be immediately discernible but the effects can be traced to how people think of us as a nation. We need to say: Mr President, we deserve a good representation of you and it begins with you!
Who are we to tell Jacob Zuma who he can or can’t have sex with or that he is too old or to famous to do so? He does not prescribe to you who you may or may not have sex with and how many partners you have. All anybody expects is that if you have sex, you do so without knowingly infecting somebody else with an STD. The rest is societal moral judgemental bullshit by the pious, driven by a lingering religious guilt.
You said:
“He has multiple concurrent partners which is again, a major barrier to the spread of HIV.”
This doesn’t make any sense. I think you mean catalyst, rather than barrier.
@ Janine
“Well said Jennifer. It is a disgrace and embarrassment to us as a nation - but the reality is the majority of citizens don’t care. So we’ll just sweep it under the carpet and add it to the list of frustations we live with daily in sunny South Africa. ”
BUT it’s another brick in the wall, another stuff up, another contradiction, another failure, and all of these result in the voters of this country making more intelligent choices in the future.
“He was elected as a representative for where we want South Africa to go in the future”.
Who is we? You didn’t vote ANC. We the people who voted for Msholozi are not making a mountain of a molehill because we understand the right to freedom of choice which seems to have escaped the media.
People are not going to start having many children simply because the president does. You and the media need to stop trying to feed us the psychobabble that comes from the US. If you feel the president’s behaviour is going to cause you and your like to start producing like rabbits , as the media puts it, go to China. The number of children one can have is regulated and that should go down well with you.
I have no intention of having more than 4 children and as such the president can have as many children as GOD allows him and that will have influence on me and millions of thinking South Africans.
As for you, find something else to babble about so you feel relevant. Just leave our president alone.
Just taking another look at the general behaviour of our society…irrespective of colour or culture:
There was a Jew leader named King Solomon…who was extremely polygamous according to the bible (700 wives if not mistaken). Now this was justified as him strengthening friendships with neighbouring kingdoms (which I see just as an excuse for a man to legitimise orgy sex). Everytime I think of this, it makes me wonder if orgies started in a white society or through a Black cultured man of the likes of Zuma and his polygamous fanatics. Now I am just thinking of King Bafati..ooopss my bad…King Mswati (more than 5 wives now)….or King Zwelithini (more than 3 already) and it makes me wonder if they ever have orgies like in most white communities. Is it european to have orgies and african to be polygamous?mmmHH?
So a word of advice to Jennifer and all the anti-polygamous sex bashers.
As long as whites decide have 2 kids and a black man man has 5, irrespective of where they come from…then you will loose the vote until Jesus Christ comes…Zuma told you so himself that ANC will rule until Jesus comes…and believe him…because he is investing his loins in creating more future ANC votes…and you can be sure that no Zuma bloodline will ever vote for Broederbond…never.
Sad but true. Its a strategy whites can never achieve with orgies and pregnancy prevention pills.
If you actually read the article, the word ‘Zulu’ doesn’t appear once, so don’t be so quick to strawman the author by moving the goal-posts to cultural difference.
@ Mo
What are you smoking? He is an honest man? None of the politicians, regardless of party or creed, are clean. Get real and stop being naive.
This piece isn’t about culture, rather the set of moral values that the president is inadvertently rubber stamping with his behaviour. I agree with the author whole heartedly.
@ S’fiso
While I agree we won’t start reproducing like rabbits, considering SA’s HIV+ problem and his place in a public office, we deserve a better example from our president. Whether ‘we’ or you or I voted for him is a moot point. He is the president and as such his office should be respected, but in turn he should be either more discreet or preferably celebate…he has had a good run!
thanks for the spot-on little essay on zuma’s poor sex-ed example. you hit the nail on the head with every word. if i must be otherwise, which i must, perhaps you might change your nomme pen back to what it was. jeneral is is little too close to venereal, or was that intentional?
I have become tired of defending this man’s actions. Other presidents resign when found to be cheating on their wives, why should JZ be different. How I wish Kgalema Motlanthe had never stepped down as prez. Zuma’s problem is that he does not seem to be an independent thinker and he does things based on his insticts, and there’s no doubt where they are located.
I’m shocked by the gullible nature of South Africans. A Sunday newspaper writes a story quoting some anonymous sources that are never corroborated, they don’t bother to verify their facts (consistent with lousy journalism in SA)and you swallow it without question. In 2008, similar journalist morons wrote scathing articles about then President Kgalema Motlanthe, linking him to some extramarital affair and a love child. You also bought into it like a fool. You are intellectually challenged, really! For me the Zuma love child article is a piece of poor journalism, characterized by poor research and I do not accept it until they convert it to a piece of better garbage!
What if the story is not true? What happens if Sonono comes out and denies the whole story? On what probable cause is the story anchored? I could not find anything tangible in the article! The article by Jeniffer Thorpe is equally poor in its information content because it just progresses the rumour and speculation already in the air. Most of you live in a Banana Republic of your own, alone! I’ll reserve my comment on the whole story for when better info is provided by a competent journalist.
I’m tired of all the people who justify Zuma’s behaviour by saying it’s African Culture. I don’t believe it - are they saying that each male member of every African tribe should have five wives and twenty children? Heaven help us if everyone decides to follow our so-called leader’s example. In this day and age how on earth would they feed, cloth and educate all their progeny? Is this responsiblity part of the culture, or do they think they can get by on welfare - making it someone else’s problem?
Before Zuma was president he apparently needed Shaik’s help to get by - now, of course, we have to foot the bill, so he can produce as many children as he feels necessary to prove his manhood.
It just makes him look pathetic - certainly not a leader. And if it is african culture then clearly there are aspects of it that should be abandoned - for the sake of the children.
ANC national spokesman Jackson Mthembu said he “did not see” any link between “policies on HIV and Aids and the president’s personal relationships” - a response to DA leader Helen Zille, who said Zuma’s sexual conduct was undermining the fight against Aids, where the emphasis was changing people’s behaviour and encouraging safe sex.
Question is “who is this policy meant to guide if not the country and its leader?
If this is culture then the process is entirely wrong.
Culture (polygamy) process:
You marry then have babies, if there is a blunder/boo-boo that happened i.e. Girl pregnant before marriage = Man pay damages (express regret for error) and marry girl - Lesson learnt!
Zuma process, virginity test (sexual intercourse - unprotected)
Girl/woman pregnant = Zuma pay damages (signifying victory!)
Zoom to next woman’s bed (while publicly marrying baby mama)
Just because the whole nation blunders doesn’t mean its ok. Lead us out of Darkness into light!
Scenario:
Reporter: Mr. President, please explain yourself.
Mr. Pres…: But that does not mean that we should be irresponsible in our sexual practices,”
Youth league President: Don’t question elders!
Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya: the constitution’s promise that “everyone shall have a right to privacy” included the president.
To Vincent “fatcakes” – it’s the PUBLIC OFFICE! And yes, the right to privacy for all. No disputing that.
We didnt watch when he was … with Ms Khoza
Well said! Now you are talking like a real feminist. But what about the deafening silence from Gender links and co? One would think that those who earn a living out of ‘gender issues’ would have something to say.
Once upon a time, a young woman family friend of Zuma went to the very difficult extent of reporting and laying acharge of rape against him. Nobody does this unless they have been grieviously violated and humiliated, especially a friend of the family.
Zuma may have been aquitted of the charge of rape, but this is not to say that the court couldn’t have erred in this case.
It did however show us the man Zuma and his attitude towards extra-marital sex and HIV AIDS, for which he expressed remorse and apologised.
Then a year or so later he gets caught at the same philandering, without protecting himself and his spouses, once again.
This is highly irresponsible and he is demonstrating that he has low impulse control and a potential danger to this country, in his position of head of state.
Some of South Africa’s more serious social problems are
- domination and abuse of women by men
- spread of HIV through promiscuity
- too many children to receive an adequate education because of our small tax base.
It seems our President does not care about some of our more serious social problems. He leaves me ashamed and embarassed.
Eish, you South Africans are in trouble! This man [your president], escaped jail by a technical whisker. Some woman once claimed he raped her, he has five wives and now this? What’s next? I’ll tell you what’s next: if the next Miss RSA refuses his advances, he might just pin her down, politically. Today it’s Irvin Khoza’s daughter, tomorrow, it might be Joe Blogg’s wife. My suggestion, Jennie, is that JZ must resign from presidency and join hollywood. You guys are sitting on a time bomb … tick, tick, tick … BOOM!!!
The only people who have issues with Zuma’s polygamy are those who didn’t vote for him and the ANC anyway. Get over yourselves. Keep your missionary positions, your single-sex “married in the eyes of the one true God”, western boredom behind your OWN bedroom doors please. The rest of us would rather not be subjected to your moral wailings.
I do not agree that “older men” have a higher HIV risk than youngsters, just ask anybody at one of our many univercities how the youngsters behave sexually and you will get a surprise.
What is the legallities of polgamy, is anybody in SA allowed to marry more than one wife?
Well said Jen/ if our president at age 67 can’t control his sexual urges and is unable to be faithful to 3 wives and a fiance or two then how do we expect him to concentrate on matters of state. He gives Belusconi a run for his money.
Stuff the moral outrage, the HIV hot air,
Who pays for the 20 children, the taxpayer?
What happens when he croaks, do we foot the bill for half a dozen or more wives (it won’t stop now) at royalty rates?
Why doesn’t the press find answers those questions,
then let us judge what a scandal it is.
Morals? Wake up, they disappeared decades ago!
If “Zulu Culture” is going to be the defense used by the ANC spin-doctors for this behaviour then answer this. Our constitution establishes full and complete equality between the sexes. So all 5(6) Mrs Zuma’s are free to pursue relationships with other men, make babies with them and marry them while still remaining married to the president…….. sorry, what’s that? What do you mean they cannot?!? Oh right, I forgot, woman, children and cattle all enjoy equal status in Zulu culture…. HOUSE-HOLD POSSESSION OF THE MASTER. Zuma’s “Zulu Tradition” argument is complete crap. Churning out babies in a world of rapidly dwindling resources is just simply irresponsible!
Let’s face the facts: Africa has an AIDS problem. It’s not about how many women our president has slept with. It’s about the message it conveys to others. We can talk about how to prevent AIDS till we’re blue in the face, but if those in the limelight, be it our favourite actor/singer or our president, we’re wasting our time.
@MP
“I’m shocked by the gullible nature of South Africans.”
Actually, based on the last elections, the SA voter is not as gullible as one might think since the ANC won by an even greater margin in spite of the demonization of Zuma by the the DA and their media cohorts.
The media bias and shoddy journalism has created this storm in a teacup out of this meaningless incident to embarrass the SAn President at the international Davos conference - nothing more. These tactics are bound to backfire, it justs takes a little longer sometimes, but the DA and their supporters are boxing themselves in politically. They are bereft of credibility and not taken seriously anymore. Watching the DA leadership in action is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Well done Mosotho. Great strategy. looks like youre “culture” will keep winning the vote buy having more and more children. The only problem is that those children don’t exist exclusively to vote the ANC in to power(Although the ANC might take that view). They have needs( education, housing, FOOD!) which use reasources and cant be met by the government or the majority of the “culture” who multiply exponentially. Reasources are scarce and this will ultimately lead or increase poverty among the “culture” and the country.But hey, as long as the whites are not in power its all good.
@Grant - the thing is that it’s not about prescription. It’s about saying tht he’s our leader and yet he’s not leading by example. He’s doing exactly the opposite of what he says everyone else should do. He’s the pied piper and he’s leading us off a cliff.
@Zach - thanks for the correction. I meant to say “major barrier to stopping the spread of HIV”. Apologies!
@S’fiso - we are the people concerned for women’s rights. we are the people who want to stop the spread of HIV. We are the people who want a health future in South Africa. We are the people who support condom use to protect both parties during sex. Are you not one of those people?
@ John: This is not an issue of culture. When you are president you put yourself forward as a role model. Zuma is undeserving of this powerful position.
@Benzol: I’m not talking about morals, I’m talking about sexual safety.
@Roy: not sure if you followed the rape case, but he didn’t use protection there either.
@Mo: I’m Afrocentric. I want Africans like myself to be able to live in a society led by inspiring leaders. Right now we’re short on leaders, nevermind inspiring ones. I don’t need to research his background to know that he’s not having safe sex.
@Mosotho - I don’t care about the vote I’m not worried about black and white. I want people to have safe sex. If you want to cast black people as sex-crazed, sexually-risky people by nature then I think you’re going to have some answering to do.
@Ivan- wow. I’ll remember that next time we have our ‘general’ elections.
@Navmas - Exactly!
@MP - It’s time for Zuma to talk for himself. If he wants to deny it then why hasn’t he done so already? Or are you just another brick in the poorly built ANCYL wall?
@Kylie - I think you’re wrong. If you plan on having multiple concurrent partners please use a condom. For their safety and yours.
What is it the Zuma defenders don’t understand? It’s not about his sex it’s about how he does it (without a condom, remember he slept with an HIV+ woman), it’s about sleeping with his friend’s daughters. It about his lying and cheating. It’s about him saying one thing and doind the opposite. It’s about his message to young chauvanistic men that women are there for the taking. It’s about having more children than he can afford (financially and emotionally). It’s about the head of state spending more time bedding women than running the country. It’s about him forfeiting his private picadilos once he became president. And most of all it’s about thos poor children who will grow up not really knowing their father as he has little time to spend with them. We DEMAND and EXPECT more of our president! He gets paid to run the country and not ro run a harem!
Jennifer- its Roman catholic policy to
a)discourage any contraceptive use including condoms
b)be homophobic and sexist- how many women priests do you know.
So if you are roman catholic HIV is your destiny and multitudes of zumalets is your goal.
Why dont you go after them instead- i can give you the popes e mail adress..
Men want to screw loads of women- most men here want to screw a load of other women. The sex industry has a lot of married men as customers. Porn industry depends on married men for business.
be realistic Zuma is just being a man. His problem is he is too hoinest about it.
Go after the pope for now
Seems as if politicians worldwide have extraordinary libidos (France, America, Italy, England, etc.) our Pres being no different excepting that he has 5 legit babes lined up at his “homes?”. What could a virile 67 year old want more? Must take powerful muti as he still has the strength for a bit on the side.
Real alley cat stuff here. Alley cats are notoriously unscrupulous. Hope this behaviour stays in the bedroom but I doubt it.
I think he makes a great role model for people who want to know how not to do it. Having multiple wives is one thing but this guy has no boundaries and looking at his level of activity one has to wonder where he finds the time to govern. Maybe it’s just a whole lot of quickies. Who knows?
Kylie, you’re not being serious I hope?
How much of a father can he be to 20 children? How much time does each wife get? When does he do his real job inbetween all that?
We pay his wages remember. He’s costing us money every time he finds he needs another sex partner or chld, and he’s making a complete mockery of being faithful and/or condomising, which is his government’s stance iro HIV.
President Zuma unabantwana abayi 20, the last one with Dr. Khoza’s daughter. DA leader was the first person to complain about Zuma having babies all over South Africa G20. DA leader is always linking Zuma & HIV that worries most activists & law makers in South Africa & abroad. My question was always around the issue of linking polygamy and HIV, is there any research study done to prove weather polygamy is spreading HIV&AIDS South Africa? Coming to the issue of Zuma having 20 of kids. Helen Zille got kids too and that means she was not using a condom, and Patrick Lekota got a son that means he was not using a condom. My father got a son and his name is Mbulelo Dyasi and that means my father was not using a condom. Our population is 48 million where are these people coming from including DA leader. Mr. President do not be ashamed of your children like other leaders in South Africa, where their children are in hiding. If you have a child with Dr Khoza’s daughter or whoever, please care of your child and take action against those linking your marriages with HIV&AIDS. For that matter Ms. Khoza rejected the baby claim and why continues debating it.
For the nation to move forward, I want to appeal to all women involved in polygamy to speak out so that we know if the polygamy is another form of human trafficking not to single out President Zuma.
Dave Harris, our resident black commentator with an identity problem, is all alone. Shame.
On many other blogs and in the street, ANC supporters, even some staunch ones, are shaking their heads in disgust and disappointment at their president.
If we read Dave Haris correctly, he is basically warning whites not to take an oppositional stance against the ANC and Zuma in case the blacks one day rise up against us. He totally ignores the debate at hand because he, just like Zuma, can say nothing in defense of Zuma’s behaviour.
One of those stubborn fools who will insist on defending a lost cause till his dying day.
Ah Dave Harris - never one to let the facts get in the way of a good (biased) opinion!
Quote:
“The ANC won the 2009 General election by an even greater margin (than the 2004 election)
ANC 2004 result - 66.35%
ANC 2009 result: 65.48%
Erm Dave old chap, I believe that 65.48% is less than 66.35%.
Perhaps like Mr Zuma, whom you admire so much, you, too have a std 4 education? (or is that Std 2 - opinions seem to differ).
There is an argument that says that the ANC’s majority in and of itself proves the gullibility of the SA public.
Re: Davos - Zuma embarrassed HIMSELF with his answers - the audience howled in shrieks of laughter at his ridiculous response - laughing AT him, not WITH him.
Have you not cottoned on that whenever we hear his own thoughts rather than prepared speeches written by his speechwriters, that the most incredible gaffes are committed, and we get glimpses of the “true” Zuma.
I don’t think it’s a question of morals - the South African government has a ’strategy’ to try curb the spread of HIV/Aids, and yet our very own President isn’t seen to be supporting this strategy by following it himself. Who are we to be telling him how to conduct his sex life? We are only the people he is meant to be leading - he accepted that position, and he has to accept that consquences that come with that position of power. He is meant to be a role model to all South Africans, but right now his message conflicts with the message of the government. What kind of role model is that?
Oh please, 1 more spoilt Oxford educated, westernised wailer and that is evidence? The REAL electorate has MUCH more important daily issues to concern themselves over. Lets wait until the next election to see who REALLY is wrong, shall we? Bookmark the page, why don’t you.
Condoms are not infallible. If you’re not bound by the missionaries and their ridiculous prophets and words etched into stone, and if you plan on having multiple concurrent partners, it’s wise to use a condom, but be prepared anyway.
I wish this much fuss was made over BOTOX treatments. Now THERE is a real feminist issue. And it might explain why a certain someone’s lips seem to go into uncontrollable, high-vibration mode every time someone in government twitches.
And what will change in the country and in your life if Zuma marries five more times? Not much, in fact nothing. Will you make any difference by making a fuss… NO – (except giving Julius some more opportunity to spew more nonsense)
Don’t be distracted - rather focus on the important stuff like Unemployment, Education, AIDS, Electricity Generation, Zimbabwe, Crime ect. We should be more concerned with the important issues than Zuma’s personal life.
I have accepted the fact that our president likes to have sex, even with the daughters of close friends. He also does not use a condom, that I have accepted. He also does not see the need to be married to those he has all that sex with, and whether they fall pregnant or not. At his age I don’t see him changing anytime soon. I will also have to accept that by 2015, say, he’ll have about 30 kids. That I will also have to accept, if it comes about, but it is possible, statistically. I hope he will accept that I will not vote for the ANC in the next election. That is not too far off.
To Jennifer (or anyone who cares to read this):
Please direct me to the article explaining how you know that there is a “drastic overpopulation problem” in RSA.
One is that Jacob Zuma is making use of his wealth and power to seduce and abandon much younger women. (The fact that he has paid money to the family does not excuse this, since the money comes from his financial backers and not from himself.) In this he is not unlike a large majority of South African men. He is simply a bad role model for them. (The people who are turning this into a racial issue are idiots. It’s a gender issue.)
However, in addition, there is the question of whether a man unprepared to take responsibility for his sexual behaviour is prepared to take responsibility for his political actions. There is a link between, for instance, Zuma’s shameless promiscuity, and Zuma’s habit of making promises which he immediately breaks (e.g. the mythical 500 000 jobs, the R2,4 billion for job training which never got spent, the 34% cut in carbon emissions which is not going to happen).
That’s a more serious pattern of which Zuma’s sexual behaviour is a symptom.
I was wondering when someone was going to throw in the race card!
Now can you feed, clothe and educate your five children to degree level so that they will have a future? Can you provide the medical attention they need to grow up happy and healthy? Will you raise them well and teach them to be good citizens who respect and love their fellow human beings? Or will you leave them to be raised by their mothers alone. Will they join the other hordes of fatherless young who turn to crime and die young? Is it any wonder that HIV/Aids is killing 2000 South Africans every day? You are not better just because you are a man. Its time to change, to be responsible and stop laying your promiscuity at the door of tradition.
The type of men you’re talking about, the type of men like you, are the reason why we having soaring domestic and sexual violence against women in South Africa.
@Benzol: For the first time I have to agree with you. Most South Africans are black-including the ones otherwise classified as “white”. About 89% of white South Africans have between 6%-18% black blood in their veins (a few as much as 25%). So if we say black people behave immorally, are we including the “whites”?
Also, what about the many white men in Cape Town who frequently visit brothels and pick up prostitutes on the streets or the many white people who belong to swinging clubs?
All of you forget that our last great white president FW de Klerk also had an affair while he was still married to Marika - so much for socalled western values!!!
[…] allow all South Africans to learn something about tolerance and give up on apathy. more posts Zuma is part of the problem JZ has now put 20 candles on the cake of his loins. Twenty kids, five wives (or are there more […]
Great article, Jen
@Dev who seemed to question if we have an overpopulation problem …
the flip side of overpopulation is unemployment. We have 40% unemployment (using the wider, truer definition), much of which is structural i.e. parents who have never held a job will have children who will never hold a job.
one test of overpopulation is the ratio between people paying taxes and people receiving grants. One economist held that one taxpayer covers 15 grants, which is the most extreme ratio in the world, and quite beyond our sustainability.
Can help with these stats?
If you want to rid the country and the world of HIV/Aids, you have to start with the opinion leaders as well as the elected leaders. So basically all of you who are saying that we should leave JZ’s sexual preferences alone are encouraging a world full of HIV and unprotected sex..good on you and good luck with that because one of you will date someone who shares that idea and the chances are that you may be on the receiving end of the HIV virus..Lets use our heads instead of our genitals guys!!!!!
1. Zuma is not unique, there are many examples of “worldleaders” that did and are doing exactly what he is doing - Clinton, Mitterand, De Klerk, Berlosconi and even King Mswati!
2. The biggest question is whether they are lying about it (like Mr Clinton lied under oath). Because if they are prepared tp lie under oath, then who can believe them again in the future.
3. Poligamy is not the question. It is an eccepted way of life in many parts of the world (In some parts you also get one wife with two or more husbands). The question is whether he have the extra-marital affairs with the consent of his wifes and whether they approve of him not using condoms.
4. Lastly, at present he is the face of SA and whether he like it or not,(like Clinton and Berlosconi) his bedtime escapades are not good for people trying to sell SA on the international front.
Silage is right - Zuma’s ‘private’ life is very much public - in London it was featured on page 3 of The Metro, the joke story page. He is turning us into a laughing stock.
Jen, weak article, but it nonethelss got a conversation going.The real issue here is not about the seemingly brash behaviour that polygomy encourages, but Zuma’s extra marital activities. The problem doesn’t lie with the practice of polygamy (or polyandry), but with the individual. That said though, I also have to say that I don’t like the dude, but like Andre pointed out; I’d sooner judge him as a President according to his policy making or to be more exact- his lack thereof than to castigate him because of his shitty sexual escapades.I think that he should step down. The end
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Jennifer is a young feminist, activist and advocate for women's rights.
She is a big fan of debate and discussion, and always keen for a good constructive argument. Her interests like with all issues relating to the body and to the many ways that government and society regulate our bodies.
She likes talking about uncomfortable issues so that they become a little easier to negotiate in our day to day life.
She has started a women's writing project called 'My First Time' which can be accessed using the link below. She is thrilled with the results.
She's working at Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust as the researcher, loving the feminist vibe and is working on bits and bobs here and there.
My First Time A writing project that has blossomed into a blog. Over 80 women have written stories for me on their 'first time' experiences that have impacted their lives. You can read their stories and comment here.
Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust An incredible organisation working to achieve justice for women, and to provide support to rape survivors and their loved ones.
Victim Empowerment South Africa A blog about the positive side of being a victim of crime, how victims can empower themselves and what the law and policy says to support them.
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“…If he doesn’t, I’m scared for the type of future South Africa will have.”
What future, Jennifer?
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