Thaindian News

Johannesburg, Feb 1 (DPA) A leading South African daily Monday accused President Jacob Zuma of shaming his country following reports that he has fathered a child out of wedlock.
In a front-page editorial headlined “Shame of the nation” the Sowetan newspaper accused Zuma - who has recently married for the fifth time - of hypocrisy, for exhorting young people to practice safe sex but himself allegedly impregnating a 39-year-old divorcee.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Sonono Khoza, daughter of local World Cup Organising Committee chairman Irvin Khoza, a friend of Zuma, gave birth Oct 8 last year to a girl called Thandekile Matina Zuma.

According to the paper, a delegation representing Zuma visited the Khoza family in December to discuss the payment of “inhlawulo” or damages, as is customary in the Zulu tradition when a child is born out of wedlock.

Zuma’s office has refused to comment on the report but significantly has not denied it. Sonono Khoza denied knowledge of the affair to The Times.

The reports come less than a month after Zuma - perhaps the world’s most famous polygamist, who already has 19 children, according to official statistics - made Thobeka Mabhija his third wife in a ceremony at his home in KwaZulu-Natal province.

It was the fifth time Zuma said “I do”. One of his marriages ended in divorce in 1998 while another of his wives committed suicide in 2000.

“In a different democracy the latest scandal to hit President Jacob Zuma would have been enough for him to stand down as head of state,” the Sowetan wrote, saying the affair raised questions about South African values.

Zuma’s advice on World Aids Day Dec 1 to each individual to “take responsibility for protection against HIV” - advice that was taken to mean the wearing of a condom - was “mere mouthing of a speech prepared by aides”, the paper said.

The leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, Sunday accused Zuma of undermining the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Three years after apologising to South Africans at his rape trial for showing bad example by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman, the president, who was acquitted of the rape charges, had “once again succeeded in sending the wrong message to the South African people”, Zille charged.