No wonder Generation Now is off telly and print, and only worships at the feet of Diesel and Juju Malema.
There’s more than enough there to turn off many an adult.
No wonder Generation Now is off telly and print, and only worships at the feet of Diesel and Juju Malema.
There’s more than enough there to turn off many an adult.
I am sure many might not have heard so I will recap: President Jacob Zuma is currently in the United Kingdom of Great Brain and Northern Ireland (aka ‘the Pond’) on a three-day official visit.
He was given quite a welcome on Thursday, travelling by horse-drawn carriage with Queen Elizabeth II to Buckingham Palace (where he had a snooze, mind you) and being honoured with a state banquet with all the finery the Brits could and always seem to muster.
The good man was scheduled to talk politics, policy and international relations with Gordon Brown, potential Prime Minister (and current leader of the opposition) and Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats (you can just as well call them Cope).
But there was this matter of the pesky British press. President J’s visit must have ticked off something in the collective mind of Fleet Street or is it Canary Wharf, where all media houses congregate these days?
Anyway, the most notorious comment was by a freelance reporter for the conservative Daily Mail, who called Zuma a “sexobsessed bigot” and wondered how “we could pander to this vile buffoon.”
The ANC president has often been accused of being indecisive and full off circumvention, but he let the Brits (their journos at least) have it this time.
He declared that they knew little-to-zero about his culture and that they think their culture
is superior to African cultures.
He reminded them: I am travelling to Britain on important business of state the state of South Africa; and the state of Great Britain, and dismissed them with a flourish.
Okay, our man massaged the truth a little. His 20-odd children are not all from the wives he married under Zulu culture. And there is that Xhosa progeny.
He didn’t even sling some mud by asking whether the journalists ever called Bill Clinton sexobsessed after the cigar/Monica Lewinsky/Oval Office love triangle.
Nor their own Prince Charles for wanting to be his lady’s tampon, apparently so he could always be with her.
Their news pages are currently replete with stories about their brightest stars Ashley Cole, his wife, Wayne Bridge, his exgirlfriend, John Terry, his wife, Peter Andre and Katie Price all caught up in sexual storms.
The press have hounded and chided them all. But none have been treated the way of President Zuma. My point? It’s simple. Leave our polygamist alone. We shall deal with him when he gets home.
That’s the African way. Sim Kyazze is a lecturer at the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University.
