The Bishops finally join the voices criticizing South Africa's adulterous president

(Social Justice South Africa)

Article by Marc Aupiais

In a statement our service has yet to receive, the Associated Press is reporting that The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference have lambasted the behaviour of President Jacob Zuma, of the Republic of South Africa. Zuma has had multiple long term relationships outside of marriage.


Other voices of concern:

Opposition parties have latched onto the president's more recently discovered adulteries, with most major parties airing criticism, including the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance.

Smaller parties have also joined the rush. In "Like Zuma needs more bodyguards", our editor noted apparent suggestions from members of the Africanist PAC, that the president be accompanied on house calls, in order to make sure he does not cheat on his "wives". The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), which the voters' guide section of Scripturelink.net news advised voters against supporting in the previous election, suggested seemingly that the problem was Zuma's choice not to wear a condom. According to research by Harvard University, the promotion of condoms in Africa, increases risky behaviour, resulting in an increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Writing on his private blog: "The Tempest and the Hurricane", our editor, Marc Aupiais also, in his private capacity, recently joined criticism of the country's president, comparing the president's flings to concubines in the article "All the President's concubines", in which he noted that the Independent Newspapers group had reportedly discovered that Zuma has another two children, noting:

"Independent Newspapers has reportedly spotted out two more of the president's illegitimate children, these allegedly belonging to a businesswoman, and one of them had while the president was then head of the government's "Moral Regeneration" program. While many of Jacob Zuma's "wives" seem to be rural women, his "concubines", seem to be women who work in the professional sphere. I have not looked into the names of the children or mother, although I did come across them, and have not investigated whether or not the president paid the family of the most recently exposed alleged sex-partner of the president, as is traditional seemingly in Zulu custom, when one has extra-marital sex with a woman.

That would, if these children were previously unknown to the press, place the quantity of Zuma children at about 22. Zuma appears to have had a long relationship with his most recently revealed sex partner. Zuma has "married" five women. One "divorced" him, one committed suicide. The others have remained with him. The president, during his rape trial, expressed the view that taking a shower was a means of HIV/AIDS prevention. It is feared that the promiscuity of the president, will form a precedent for African men, in a country where up to one in five adults may well have HIV/AIDS."

As for the statement by the SACBC (Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference), our service has conspicuously been excluded from the list of services receiving such a statement, the Washington Post article is all we have to go on at the moment:


According to the Washington Post:

"In a statement released before President Jacob Zuma was to deliver his state of the nation address Thursday, the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference said that while Zuma has expressed regret over an affair that resulted in a daughter born in October, he has not shown remorse for adultery.

The bishops say Zuma sets a poor example in a country with the world's highest number of HIV-positive people.

South African voters last year overwhelmingly supported Zuma, who had admitted having sex outside marriage. Zuma's latest affair, first reported by a Johannesburg newspaper, has attracted steady criticism."

(Washington Post (Independent; American; Secular; Liberal) 11 / 02 | February / 2010)

Click here to view the Washington Post article:

Catholics blast South African President Zuma - washingtonpost.com


I assume the paper mentioned as a Johannesburg newspaper is the Johannesburg Star, of the Independent Newspapers group.

All Quotations from "The Tempest and the Hurricane", by Marc Aupiais, are here made with required permission. In accordance with our editor's wishes, the blog has not been included in the South African Catholic News Service group, which he has charge of. His article commentaries do however appear on our pilot site, on the comments/views section, but retain a stricter copyright currently than our main articles on the site.