President Zuma faces mounting dissent within the African National Congress as a growing number of members are now calling for him to serve only one term in office. Despite the center-left president's belated apology to the ANC and the nation on Saturday for fathering another child out of wedlock (for which he had to do inhlawulo, the Zulu tradition of paying compensation for an out-of-wedlock child), a debate is raging about his suitability for a second term. The latest controversy comes on the heels of the president's recent controversial decision to marry his third concurrent wife (and fifth wife total). Of course, South African bookeristas are in the mix, crying foul especially given the country's high rate of HIV/AIDS:
Justice Malala: "A Selfish, Predatory Practice"
The South African center-right columnist argues that culture offers no defense for practicing polygamy: "Let us not beat about the bush here. The issue is not who President Jacob Zuma sleeps with and how many times he does so. That is not what necessitates an apology. What he should apologise for is the fact that he has opened the door for our democracy to be hijacked by people who want to hide behind culture to justify their selfish and predatory practices. A patriarchal society benefits and flowers from women being oppressed, uneducated and disempowered. We know now that it is precisely because we used to live under patriarchal rule that men could indulge in the selfish act of sleeping with and marrying as many women as they like, without a care."
He continues: "That was then. This is now. Today all of that is rubbish and a defence of it only perpetuates the oppressions of the past. To all those who have been defending polygamy over the past week, here is the bottom line. It may well be that many, including Zuma, still practise polygamy. It may also be that polygamy is something that is allowed in our constitution. That, however, does not make it right and it is not defensible under the guise of culture. Polygamy is inherently undemocratic and oppressive of women. It is a practice for men who hate women. The position has been common cause in the ANC since its formation in 1912. Not once under its first president, [black conservative] John Dube, or successive presidents did the party feel the need to defend practices like polygamy or the use of muti - another fashionable addition to today's ANC. Unique in this respect, the many cultures our ANC claims to defend are alien to its very nature. At heart, the party is non-sexist, scientific, progressive, non-racial and democratic."
More commentary from Mr. Malala, about the president: "Zuma now has some time until the ANC's 2012 conference to clean up his name and his game. He has an extra two years to make disillusioned South Africans believe in him again. My view is that Zuma can and will win the 2014 election. He will do it on a populist vote and he will do it largely because the opposition remains weak, despite the vigorousness of the Democratic Alliance parliamentary machine. But the ANCs 2014 victory is already sounding hollow. A hundred years after its formation, the party is a moral shadow of its proud self, choosing to hate women."
Kenneth Meshoe: "The President Is A Sex Addict And Needs Professional Help"
Kenneth Meshoe, member of the South African Parliament and the leader of the center-right African Christian Democratic Party continues his criticism of President Jacob Zuma. Upon hearing that African National Congress members are increasingly calling for the president to step down as party leader when his term ends in 2012, MP Meshoe said: “When it comes for those who call for him to step down, I will not be opposed to that. But my initial recommendation was that the president must go for counselling and sex addiction therapy.”
MP Meshoe wonders whether President Zuma's latest act of contrition is not simply due to pressure from the ANC, or did “did it come from his heart”? And if just apologising because of pressure, “he may well do it (have unprotected sex) again”, he said.
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South Africa: Black Center-Right Slams President Jacob Zuma For His Controversial Polygamous, Polyamorous Relationships
