Zuma takes time out
2010-02-04 11:00
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has cancelled his public engagements over the
next two days so he can rest following a “hectic” schedule, his office said
today.
“The President of the Republic, President Jacob Zuma, will today
and tomorrow, take time off to rest following a hectic
schedule,” a presidency statement said.
In the last week Zuma has travelled to the World Economic Forum in
Switzerland and an African Union meeting in Ethiopia and on his return, walked
into a controversy over a child he fathered with a woman not his wife.
The president, who has three wives and a fiancee, confirmed he had
a relationship with Sonono Khoza, daughter of World Cup local organising
committee chairman Irvin Khoza and they had had a child together last
year.
The presidency and the ruling party had at first said it was a
private matter, but Zuma then issued a statement confirming the Sunday Times
report.
“I said during World Aids Day that we must all take personal
responsibility for our actions. I have done so,” a statement issued on his
behalf said.
“I have done the necessary cultural imperatives in a situation of
this nature, for example the formal acknowledgement of paternity and
responsibility, including the payment of inhlawulo to the family.”
The gist of the criticism levelled at him was that his actions did
not appear to be in line with government’s HIV/Aids policies – a suggestion he
disagrees with.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will deliver Zuma’s opening
address at the inaugural meeting of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment
Council in Pretoria today and tomorrow’s credentials ceremony for new
ambassadors has been moved to next week.
- SAPA