Reports earlier this week claim that President Jacob Zuma’s second wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli Zuma, popularly known as MaNtuli, has been accused of having an affair with her bodyguard.
In addition that members of Zuma’s family wrote a letter to Ilanga, a Zulu language newspaper, setting out details of the affair including allegations that the bodyguard, Phinda Thomo from Dobsonville, Soweto, committed suicide after it was discovered.
As a result questions were posed regarding the paternity of MaNtuli’s unborn child following confirmation of her pregnancy last week.
Of course the president is a polygamist, having been married five times, and there is enormous interest in his response to this role reversal where one of the wives may have taken up with another party.
Friday sees Zuma’s family vehemently denying that they were responsible for or the sources of the reports. In addition they call these reports a “continuation of the attack on the person of the president and his political career”.
To this extent Khulubuse Zuma, a spokesperson for the family, sent a statement to Sapa calling the reports shameful and saying people were masquerading as family to spread rumours.
MaNtuli is with the president on an official state visit to India.
As in the case of the previous Zuma sex scandal the Zuma family are in danger of allowing the sideshows and name-calling to build up until the whole issue simply explodes.
This time they need to focus on the questions, answer them and allow nature to take its course.
Without deviating from the issue, did Nompumelelo Ntuli Zuma have an affair with her bodyguard?
If yes, is it not then wise to have a paternity test in light of the president’s position and legacy?
How it got into the public domain is now irrelevant and the sooner the family face it head-on the sooner they can move on even if the media carry on debating the issue.
Continuing to refute the media and public’s right to know — which failed abysmally last time — will only create animosity and inflame the situation.
Deal with it head-on and move ahead.
There are times when I really feel sorry for our Pres. This is one of them – especially as so many of his detractors will use this as an excuse to bring polygamy into the discussion, as have you Mr Trapido. Polygamy, no matter how unpalatable it might be, is not infidelity, so there is no ‘role reversal’. This poor old guy has merely been cuckolded..
Well said Traps!!
Of course there is roll reversal – the President is a polygamist but he is also an adulterer – and now it appears his wife, or one of them, has decided to follow his lead! What’s good for the goose…………. Expectations of JZ, his supporters, political allies or his family are not that high for many South African – nothing around really comes as a shock any more. If there is any truth in the story that she was banished from the family over Christmas and made to pay a “fine”, then that is grossly unfair – but unfortunately, justice is not expected a lot of the time for anyone other than JZ and those in favour with him – so, no, not even that would be surprising or shocking. It’s a real shame that many feel this way about our president! Very sad!
What is there to retract about Zuma? And who cares about Ma Ntuli? She is certainly not my first lady irrespective of her association with a person I consider a nice guy but not presidential material. So, if she wants to bonk her security guard, that’s her problem. And can the ANC and its leadership be embarrassed any more?
Question is; did the guy commit suicide or was he taken out? That’s what I’d like clarity on.
@Shelley: There is no “role reversal” under the polygamy laws. A man can have multiple wives. A woman can’t have multiple husbands.
This, of course, neglects the affirmed facts of Jacob Zuma’s own admitted acts of infidelity, which have resulted in children out of wedlock.
The rumours about trouble and stife in the “royal kraal” since the last marriage cannot be without any substance.
The stories about MaNthuli’s house in Durban has not been denied.
The reality; MaNthuli is costing us money – money that is not used to pay for her house or electricity. Where does this money go I ask?
Now she may be having a child which may be distinctly un-presidential and the taxpayer will have to foot the bill.
The attitude of “Everything you can do better I can do better than you” is costing us money.
What will we not do in the name of culture?
One can accept polygamy as Zuma’s culture (as he is wont to claim) and what his *second* wife agreed to when she married him, but his having sex with at least two women he is not married to (the victim in his “rape” trial and Ms Khoza) is something else.
Zuma has shown his moral character in his adulterous philandering, in his corrupt relationship with Shaik and Thint and in his handling of appointments to state office (e.g. Simelane).
For this adulterer to be cuckolded is simply “what goes around comes around” or “what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander” (as we say in MY culture). Of course, one wonders what sort of woman would marry a man like this, but that’s another question.
He has brought shame on the country and to the Zulu nation.
Who cares if she srews arround, he also screws arround with unmarried women and it is not polygamy, it is infidelity and it is part of their CULTURE!!!!!!!!. And they are proud of it.
what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Why not do paternity tests on all the 20 or so children?
And if the president, despite a -ve tissue test decides to keep the baby and bring it up, will it be funded from taxpayer money? I don’t ask because I’m mean (I am) but to point out that the ramifications are endless. Perhaps MaNtuli would prefer payment by the hour for official public appearances, if she’s left to bring up the child (figuratively) on her own. I cannot beieve that Zuma would be crass enough to cast her off too obviously; that would certainly expose a nasty side to him, but she has, as JM , brought the president and the party into disrepute? I overheard a Zulu woman holding forth about the matter this morning; hell, half of Durban must have heard her. While little would shock me any longer, it certainly did her. She was not in the mood to let sleeping bodyguards or president’s wife lie.
Mantuli has done what all the feminists have failed to do.-put an element of doubt in all polygamous men- if all the children are theirs and if someone else is partaking of the fruit. Ok so a security guard died but we wont cry for him. he knew what he was doing and he was coward and afraid enough to take his own life.
Mantuli has empowered woen all over africa.what men can do women can do too.Its ironic JZ was looking for extramaritals elsewhere his wife was looking for same elsewhere. Its like going to a brothel for a bit of extra and find its your wife you are servicing in the brothel.
Those who want polygamy should carry on but be aware of the consequences.I would marry a second woman if i could afford it both financially and strongbackwise. but jzs situation is so ironic . ade my weekend
I can already hear the ANCYL saying “This is an adult matter. We do not discuss adult issues.” Ha ha ha-a-a.
Sad that our political setup allows for a leader with sooooo much baggage to be elected. Please give us a decent political party that is government in waiting (ie more than just opposition) so that we can swop them every 10 to 15 years. Then perhaps we will not be inflicted with this embarresment.
What happened to the report that MaNtuli was fined a goat on Thursday? I saw the headline but didn’t have time to read the story. Is the goat the penalty for having an affair?
I don’t quite see what the fuss is about apart from the ever-present question of having unprotected sex with more than one partner. The custom of many wives but only one husband/lover seems to be honoured more in theory than practice. The very fact that the prez has multiple wives suggests that he is not all that ‘into’ any one of them and would not be particularly bothered by a wife having a discreet relationship on the side. The problem here is that the affair is assumed to be causing a public embarrassment to the president who, it must be said, is not that easy to embarrass, given his sexual history.
Let’s face it the only reason for female fidelity is to guarantee paternity. The link between coitus and pregnancy took a long time to be made given that the concept only goes back to the introduction of monotheism and the spread of agriculture, some 5 to 7 thousand years ago. What humans didn’t know (well, males anyway) seems not to have hurt them. Given the divorce stats and the apparent hard (no pun intended) wiring of the male, perhaps the pre-monogamy model was more realistic. Women were freer.
didn’t hurt them in any way. Children ‘belonged’ to women.
How does one actually deal with this? what about the 13 year old child now thrown in the mix? who is behind the revelation? why now? it’s a tough sell period! anyway the President has no one to blame but himself. He can have countless family summits, but this one won’t was with the public.
He has confronted it head-on – he’s fined her a goat, for goodness sake. Is that not good enough for you people with your decadent Western values? As for moving ahead, he’ll be doing that just as soon as it’s in the kraal.
Is there not a presumption that if the wife has a child, the husband is the father?
That being the case, what’s the big deal? Ordinarily the only person likely to care/be disadvantaged is the husband and if he doesn’t mind because someone else maintains his kids then who should ask for the paternity test? Is it in the public interest? What a pointless mess though, and completely avoidable if people would just condomise already.
It is sad but not surprising as so many comments on this blog have pointed out. It is not surprising because we create the conditions that will arise in the future in our lives by how we behave in the now. What about JZ’s behaviour up until now? Enough said.
What puzzles me is that a Presidential wife has a bit on the side and falls pregnant, and it becomes a National Security matter, with the NIA making enquiries.
The President has a bit on the side (actually, many bits, as and when available), and fathers a child out of wedlock, and life goes on with hardly a ripple.
Is there a double standard here? Is SA truly, and to this extreme, a patriarchal society? Can we expect to hear anything from the Women’s League? And the lady seems to be “a bit of a goer” (to quote Monty Python). Anyone have her address?
Setting personal opinions about Polygamy aside – I think its great that Zuma has had the tables turned on him for once. If he can run around the country having fun with women he’s not married to, why then can his wives not? Typical male sexist reasoning to get upset when the wife returns the favour.
Incidentally, my first thought when I heard that the bodyguard has “committed suicide” was to wonder if he had been helped on his way – so I’m with you on that one, George S.
Viva! 4 more sleeps until the WC kick off!!!!!!
When practicing “culture” is no longer in the nation’s best interest (for example, promoting multiple partners in a country that faces poverty, AIDS and over-population), who will take the first step to suggest change?
Not JZ; who’s next?
Why?
Zuma is the President. If he screws around, that casts a bleak light on his personal morality and affects the Presidency.
If the President’s wife screws around, who cares? If it turns out that Michelle Obama has had a threesome with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, does that make Barack a worse President?
I think you have gone out of your mind Michael,are you sugesting that President Zuma must deal with each rumour that comes his way because the “public has got the right to know” who his wife might have cheated with without clear evidence
Our constitution permits polygamy, but does it aloow for polyadry as well?. If not, it discriminates against women in favour of men.
How long does a thirty-something-year old have to wait for satisfaction from a seventy-something-year-old, with more than two wives to take care of?. It is unfair and unjust for the poor young woman to hold back her needs in the waiting while her old man satisfies his needs anytime he feels like, and anywhere.
Our cut-and-paste constitution is stretched to the limits of its implosion.
All it
Please substitute “Allow”, “aloow”
“polyandry” for “polyadry”
Delete; “all it”
Lead by example, set the precedent….If this scandal is true, Pres Zuma only has himself to blame! Maybe, he doesnt mind what his wives get up to….especially with the security staff!
I believe newspapers has gone far this time. It is our presidents right to have a privacy. It boring to reads critisism in the number one state man even if it only involves his family. Bare thought readers you must stop to be nagative and critisize in a constractive way.
We all know that newspapers and broadcasters they want money but not with something which can lead to destroy someones marriage.
Gee, this thing of the pres’ wife is verrry scary. if the rumour is true then it says that not only the president indulges in unsafe sex but his wife(s). Who says the other wives are not busy, with the pres so busy, with other things on the side. Somebody please pray for our president and his famil before it’s too late.