News/Politics

Has Jacob Zuma registered his multiple marriages? This question is vital as the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 does not apply to “indigenous African” marriages that have not been registered. Its safeguards and benefits, therefore, would have no force in such cases. The choice whether to register a customary marriage in terms of […]

The Zuma baby story was expertly if also ruthlessly done. It contained all the “seeds” in all the right places in order to produce the drama and shock that was to follow, carefully dropping all the gory hints, expertly sprinkling all the grains of doubt, seedlings of outrage all nicely tucked in, “gently helping” the […]

When they got Al Capone, it wasn’t for some heinous crime, it wasn’t for murder or extortion or racketeering, it was for tax evasion. Eliot Ness didn’t boot down the door and catch Big Al with a gun in his hand. No, he came at him on a technicality. He caught him crooking the books. […]

The Democratic Alliance and African National Congress have issued statements welcoming President Jacob Zuma’s apology that he “deeply regretted” the pain he caused his family, the ANC and South Africans after revelations that he fathered a child out of wedlock. In her response to Zuma’s apology, Helen Zille on Saturday demonstrated why she is considered […]

Retirement, for a world leader, used to mean writing a blockbuster autobiography and swanning around the lucrative international speaking circuit. Nowadays — ask Tony Blair and Thabo Mbeki — it is as likely to mean the threat of imminent arrest and charges before the International Criminal Court. Previously, upon the statesman’s retirement, even lifelong foes […]

Recent reports that President Jacob Zuma has fathered his twentieth child with a woman he is not married to have disturbing implications for the battle against HIV/Aids. The three basic tenets of HIV prevention, used to great effect in Uganda in the 1990s, is “Abstain”, “Be faithful” and “Use condoms”. By impregnating a woman he […]

Had this been any other country (with the possible exception of Italy), there would have been an uproar over the latest instalment in the increasingly scandalous public life of Jacob Zuma. It astonishes me that there has not been spontaneous calls for the president to step down within government and that his comrades have actually […]

A year or so ago a “gentleman’s club” — or, more specifically, a club where women take off their clothes for men in return for money — plastered large promotional posters all over bus stops in Cape Town. The exhibited draw card was a stereotypical arrangement: a group of gaudy women propped up around a […]

South African President Jacob Zuma confirmed his relationship with Sonono Khoza and admitted to fathering a child with her. At the same time he marked his displeasure at the manner in which the story was broken in the media . This follows a number of individuals, parties and groups who have slammed the press by […]

Our president has just admitted to having fathered his 20th child — this time, not the child of any of his five wives, but of a friend’s daughter. No, not the friend’s daughter by whom he was accused of rape. Another friend’s daughter. This time he scored with the daughter of Soccer World Cup local […]

So on the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest weeks in our entire history as a nation, what is South Africa talking about? What may have transpired from Pres Zuma’s crotch area. A lot has been said, shouted, defended and alleged, but as things stand now, here is what we know: 1. There is […]