South Africa A Sheaf Of "Last Straws..."

Zuma gives new meaning to the term 'Father of the Nation'

Posted: February 11, 2010, 2:00 PM by Araminta Wordsworth

Full Comment’s Araminta Wordsworth brings you a regular dose of international punditry at its finest. Twenty years ago, Nelson Mandela walked free from a South African jail and proclaimed a new beginning. Under the banner of his African National Congress party, blacks and whites would live in harmony and share a prosperous future.   Of course, it didn’t turn out quite like that. South Africa has made huge strides in housing, electricity and sanitation and a growing black middle class. But unemployment remains officially at nearly 25%, about 5.7 million of the country’s 48 million people have HIV, and there 50 murders a day, a shockingly high level of violence. Then there’s President Jacob Zuma, who has managed to make his country a laughing stock with his numerous wives and 20 children. Last month, he wed his fifth spouse in a traditional Zulu ceremony. Now he’s revealed to have fathered a child out of wedlock with Sonono Khoza, the daughter of a friend. (He seems to have a penchant for such hookups — a woman he was found not guilty of raping was also part of his circle.) For many people who have been otherwise tolerant of their leader’s sexual shenanigans this is the last straw.

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