Media shares part of the blame for hastening son’s death – Zuma

An emotional former president Jacob Zuma, speaking at the funeral of his late 25-year-old son Vusi Zuma, said his son’s health condition had been worsened by the stress of how the media reported on his father over the years.

According to a statement issued by the Zuma family, the 25-year-old passed away on Sunday, from complications with the autoimmune disease lupus. The illness can be exacerbated by stress.

He was laid to rest at the Westpark Cemetery on Saturday after a private family service held at the Rhema Recreational Centre in Randburg. A number of government officials and prominent ANC members were also in attendance.

Only close friends and family were permitted to attend Vusi’s memorial service on Thursday.

The Sunday Times reports that Zuma explained the funeral was kept private at the request of his family, who did not want to deal with further media reports. Zuma said he had been told of the pain Vusi experienced when reading “about these harsh statements about me in the media”.

The former president said the media needed to find a less “harsh way” to report, because sometimes the people they wrote about “may not like what they say … but media is media. They seem to be above many things.”

Vusi is the first child Zuma has lost. He was the last born of five Zuma fathered with late wife Kate Mantsho, who committed suicide in 2000. Zuma is understood to have fathered as many as 24 children, the most recent born to his 24-year-old fiancée Nonkanyiso Conco earlier this year.

Vusi’s brother Duduzane flew back to the country this week to attend the funeral, despite reportedly being advised by his father that he stood to be arrested upon arrival. He was arrested, briefly, before being released on condition that he appear in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Monday to answer to charges of corruption in the Hawks’ state capture investigation.

He will appear in two different courts this week on separate matters of corruption and culpable homicide.

The president’s estranged wife, MaNtuli, was reportedly also in attendance, despite reports that she allegedly tried to poison her husband at Nkandla a number of years. She has denied any such plot, and is yet to be charged despite the National Prosecuting Authority saying it intended to prosecute more than a year and a half ago.