Zuma’s sex life under fire

SOUTH AFRICAN opposition parties accused President Jacob Zuma yesterday of a cavalier attitude to safe sex that is hurting the HIV/AIDS campaign after news that a woman, not one of his wives, has had his 20th child.

The Democratic Alliance, said Zuma, 68, was sending the wrong message to South Africans, among the world’s worst sufferers from HIV/AIDS.

“There are some people who may argue that Jacob Zuma’s sex life is a matter of private morality or ‘culture’, but this is not so. His personal behaviour has profound public consequences,” DA leader Helen Zille said.

The African Christian Democratic Party said Zuma was undermining the government’s drive to persuade people to practise safe sex to combat HIV/AIDS. “His conduct undermines his own government’s message on HIV/AIDS, because they are talking about safe sex and the president is continuing without using condoms. He is undermining the message of his government,” said ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe.