While western media love to report on so-called transgressions in the love-life of politicians and celebrities, they rarely question whether sex is practiced protected or not. Now that's very different in South Africa ...
It is written in an article on the
BBC website,
Mr Zuma's colourful private life is never far from the headlines.
What is called
colorful in this case, refers to the South-African president's many marriages and the undisclosed number of children he has sired, some within and apparently some outside of his marriages. The existence of a child born "out of wedlock" has been reported on Jan 31st, and the South-African
Mail & Guardian Online notes that no official comment has been forthcoming yet, so that Zuma's fatherhood still remains unconfirmed.
The article, however, reports some activities that seem to point in the direction of the president as father of the baby, named
Thandekile Matina Zuma, who was born on October 8, 2009.
According to a family friend, a two-member delegation from KwaZulu-Natal, acting on Zuma's behalf, visited the Khoza family in December last year to discuss payments [inhlawulo] that are due when a child is born out of wedlock.
On the morning of January 17, Zuma's motorcade was seen arriving at the Khoza's family home in Diepkloof Extension, Soweto.
While
polygyny - being married to several women simultaneously - is perfectly legal in the country, the largest opposition party (The Democratic Alliance) tries to create negative headlines concerning the president, by accusing him of having unprotected sex, an action that very much contradicts the government's stance on HIV/Aids, meaning that the president is giving a bad example.
As has been reported on
Digital Journal in the past, proven virility is regarded an essential quality in traditional Zulu society, yet especially among their leaders.
A note on polygamy:
While the BBC site says
Polygamy is permitted in South African law and is regarded as an important part of Zulu culture.
this is not really the case. Legal
polygamy would mean that women as well can have several husbands, which is not the case according to the country's 1998
Customary Marriages Act. The correct term for one man married to several women is
polygyny, in the case of one woman and several man this is called
polyandry. Both these terms fall under the umbrella name
polygamy (Greek, married to many).
