on charges that he raped the daughter of an old friend, and in a
country with one of the highest HIV rates on Earth, he has been forced
to apologize publicly for having unprotected sex.
Acknowledging this week that he had fathered one
more child, by many counts his 20th, outside of his three marriages has
launched another sex scandal — one that shows no sign of going away any
time soon.
Details of the 67-year-old president’s sex life
contradict the government’s HIV/AIDS campaign, an important element of
which is reducing rampant promiscuity. But the scandal appears to have
hit a deeper nerve: a sense Zuma crossed an invisible line.
The birth of his latest child unsettled his core
supporters, traditionalists who accept polygamy but regard having a
child outside of those multiple marriage as improper. Many other South
Africans, particularly urbanites, are disquieted by polygamy. The
practice sits awkwardly with the country’s stated commitment to gender
equality.
Zuma ignored revelations of the birth of his latest
child for three days, then issued a brief statement Wednesday
acknowledging paternity and attacking the media.
That only made things worse: Critics attacked his view that the media had no right to probe his private life.
After the blaring headlines (“Shame of a Nation”)
and cartoons (“The Sex-President”), Zuma canceled public engagements
for two days, citing his workload. One of his sons, Duduzane Zuma,
released a rare statement Friday saying Zuma’s children were content,
and begging the media to leave his father alone.
“We as a family are content with the polygamous nature of our household. We are content to have 20 siblings or more,” it said.
The weekly Mail & Guardian was having none of it.
“Over and over President
by and large we have complied,” it said in a stinging editorial. “But
this week, from dusty streets and taxi ranks to cocktail bars and
Facebook pages, it was clear that the elastic had snapped.”
It accused Zuma of betraying the public trust
following his apology after the 2006 trial in which he was acquitted of
raping the daughter of a longtime family friend. “I erred in having
unprotected sex,” he said then. “I should have known better.”
In court testimony, he said he had showered
afterward because he believed it would reduce the likelihood of
contracting AIDS from his HIV-positive accuser.
The acquittal and apology helped clear the path for
Zuma, a longtime power in the governing African National Congress, to
become president last year.
Zuma has been married to his first wife since 1973.
One spouse committed suicide in 2000, leaving a note that life with him
was “hell.” He divorced
current home affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in 1998. But he
married another wife in 2008, and a third just a month ago.
Some South Africans are angry that the country
accepted Zuma’s polygamy and his macho cultural pride — only to see him
slip into bed with girlfriends and daughters of friends.
The mother of his latest child, a 4-month-old girl, is Sonono Khoza, a bank official and daughter of an old friend of Zuma —
2010 soccer World Cup organizing committee. Because of strictures in
Zulu culture on having a child outside of multiple marriages, Zuma had
to pay damages to the family.
Mail & Guardian columnist
polygamy, but after a lot of thinking and many discussions with
friends, she accepted it as part of the country’s reality.
But a public show of tolerance by many South
Africans that is at odds with their private views on polygamy may
explain the depth of the backlash, she said. “I think the reason
“South Africans are quite conservative people in
terms of morality and family and God and Christ,” she said. “People
have suddenly gone: ‘Look, you had a very big canvas to paint on, mate,
and you went over the limit.'”
Zuma defended his polygamy at the World Economic Forum in
recently saying he loved all his wives equally — and adding with a
smile that some Zulu people believed their culture was superior.
Others say bad timing sharpens their embarrassment over Zuma’s behavior. In March, Zuma plans to visit
Said an editorial in the Star newspaper this week: “His rampant libido has made
—
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