South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has hinted he may be ready
to take a fifth wife to accompany him through old age, the daily
newspaper The Star said Wednesday.
During a visit to a
Durban township Tuesday in KwaZulu-Natal, the 72-year-old said in Zulu
"Angakayakhi indlu yokugugela... laba ngisabathathile nje" (I do have
wives but I'm yet to marry my last one).
The crowd, most of them elderly, laughed and cheered, The Star said.
The crowd, most of them elderly, laughed and cheered, The Star said.
Zuma,
who on Sunday said he was in "perfect condition" after a stay in
hospital in June, had earlier given a speech about the need to respect
and tend for older people.
Sihawu Ngubane, a professor
at KwaZulu-Natal University, was quoted by the newspaper as saying it
was fairly standard among Zulu people for a man who practises polygamy
to take a last wife for his last years, sometimes the younger sister of
one of his wives.
"They call the last wife 'indlu
yokugugela' (the home in which I will age in) because the responsibility
of looking after the husband in their old age predominantly lies with
the junior wife, who is often younger than the other wives and more
agile in case there is an emergency," he said.
Zuma,
who has around 20 children, has married six times but currently has four
wives on the state's budget, despite criticism from some tax-payers
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