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I am simply stunned by the reactions to the painting of Zuma.
I hear it is against morality – what morality do we have in South Africa?
Here are some facts in regards to the morality in South Africa:
It is estimated that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped than learning how to read. One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency said they had been raped in the past year.
South Africa has some of the highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world. In a related survey conducted among 1,500 schoolchildren in the Soweto township, a quarter of all the boys interviewed said that 'jackrolling', a term for gang rape, was fun.
More than 25% of a sample of 1,738 South African men from the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces admitted when anonymously questioned to raping someone; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person, according to a non-peer reviewed policy brief issued by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
Several news publications extrapolated these results to the rest of the South African population. The humanitarian news organization IRIN claims that an estimated 500,000 rapes are committed annually in South Africa, but does not provide a source for this figure.
More than 67,000 cases of rape and sexual assaults against children were reported in 2000 in South Africa. Child welfare groups believe that the number of reported incidents represents merely a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
Remember the shower incident of President Zuma – well the below is the result of the immorality shown by our President:
A belief common to South Africa holds that sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure a man of HIV or AIDS. South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world. According to official figures, circa 11% of South Africans are infected with the virus. Edith Kriel, a social worker who helps child victims in the Eastern Cape, said: "Child abusers are often relatives of their victims – even their fathers and providers."
As per women's groups in South Africa it is estimated that a woman is raped every 26 seconds, the South African police estimates that a woman is raped every 36 seconds – it took me about 15 minutes to put this together in this time 30 women have been raped on South African soil.
Now in regards to President Zuma:
The current president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was accused of raping the HIV-positive 31-year-old daughter of a family friend in November 2005 before he was president. He was found innocent by the court in 2006, yet he did admit to consensual unprotected sex with the woman.
The trial also generated political controversy when Zuma, who at the time headed the National AIDS Council, admitted that he had not used a condom when having sex with the woman who now accuses him of rape, despite knowing that she was HIV-positive. He stated in court that he took a shower afterwards to "cut the risk of contracting HIV". This statement was condemned by the judge, health experts, and AIDS activists.
The popular South African comic strip, Madam & Eve, and well known political cartoonist, Zapiro, repeatedly lampooned the matter. HIV educators emphasised that this would do nothing to prevent HIV transmission.
Now to “moral” values:
Jacob Zuma is a polygamist who has been married six times and in 2007 it has been alleged that he had 18 children.
Over and above that he has Fiancées:
Zuma paid 10 cattle as lobola for Swazi Princess Sebentile Dlamini in 2002.
Other children
He has another son, Edward, with Minah Shongwe, sister of Judge Jeremiah Shongwe, who asked to be recused from Zuma's rape trial because of the liaison.
He has two daughters, born 18 January 1998 and 19 September 2002, with Pietermaritzburg businesswoman Priscilla Nonkwaleko Mhlongo.
There are reports of four other children – three from a woman from Johannesburg and one from a woman from Richard's Bay.
2009 "love-child"
In January 2010, The Sunday Times reported that Sonono Khoza, the daughter of Irvin Khoza, gave birth to Zuma's 20th child on 8 October 2009, a daughter called Thandekile Matina Zuma.
On 3 February, Zuma responded, confirming that the child was his, and that he had paid inhlawulo, acknowledging paternity. He protested the publishing of the child's name, saying it was illegal exploitation of the child. He denied that the incident had relevance to the government's AIDS programme, and appealed for privacy. On 6 February, Zuma said he "deeply regretted the pain that he caused to his family, the ANC, the alliance and South Africans in general." The office of the presidency's comment was that it was a private matter.
Now I really do not know what the fuss is about in regards to the painting; as it is very clear from the above that the moral grounds one would expect of the President of the Republic of South Africa are tarnished beyond repair. That he has not taken any standing in regards to rape and sexual violence in South Africa that is ripping society apart is outrageous. That he has the head of the National AIDS Council has unprotected sex with an HIV positive women in a country that has the highest AIDS rate in the world and announces it in public is even more shocking than the act itself.
In my first paragraph I said I am stunned – as anyone who has moral values; has understanding for family, children and life should associate him or herself should see the the facts which are the sad reality. It should engage South Africans to discuss the background of the painting and the serious problems within South African society and the failure of the president to address those; and clearly this is not been done!
Source United Nations, Wikipedia, SAPS
