Zuma’s young bride now stands to lose her job

Employment is about to become more difficult for Nonkanyiso Conco, Jacob Zuma ’s soon-to-be seventh wife, as the multisectoral campaign involving government and business launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2016, of which she was treasurer, has called for her head.

Conco is also the communications officer of the She Conquers campaign and the board views her “affiliation” to Zuma in a dim light.

“We fully respect her traditions and we are not stating who she should marry or choose to love. However, looking at the betterment of the campaign and young people, we need to ensure we walk the walk,” said She Conquers national executive committee (NEC) chairperson Lerato Morulane.

The main objectives of the campaign are to decrease new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women, decrease the rate of teenage pregnancy, decrease gender-based violence and increase economic opportunities.

“As young girls we are lured and used by people with power who use their position to take advantage of us. As a campaign, we promote the economic empowerment and self-dependency of young women to eliminate the concept of reliance on ‘Blessers’,” said Leonora Mathe, She Conquers NEC deputy chairperson.

“Blessers” are wealthy, older men who use their financial power to woo young women with cars, residences and money in exchange for sex.

A screenshot of an unverified tweet purporting to be from Conco’s account allegedly showed she has known Zuma since she was at least 19, when she apparently stated she would be spending the “entire weekend” at his Nkandla home in August 2013.

The last time that happened, Zuma was mauled by society for having unsafe sex with the HIV-positive daughter of a friend, as he could not resist a woman wearing a kanga.

“Had Rudyard Kipling known of this case at the time he wrote his poem, If, he might have added the following: ‘And, if you can control your body and your sexual urges, then you are a man, my  son’,” said Judge Willem van der Merwe in 2006 when acquitting Zuma for the rape of Fezekile Kuzwayo, aka Khwezi.

Morulane added: “[Conco] has not been transparent with us and this is one of the things we are pushing in the campaign, for transparency and accountability towards young people.

“This raises a lot of alarms for us. We knew she was about to marry, but she never disclosed to us who she was marrying.

“Looking at all the controversial things around the Zuma family, it makes us not honest with young people. If they lose trust in us, they will question us,” Morulane said.

Zuma is facing myriad problems, many of them arising from his association with the Gupta family.

These include that the state attorney is no longer paying his legal fees, corruption and racketeering charges in the Durban High Court and a looming judicial inquiry into state capture at which he is expected to play the leading role.

It is understood Conco gave birth to Zuma’s son, believed to be his 23rd child, on Zuma’s 76th birthday.

Zuma is also married to Sizakele Khumalo (MaKhumalo)‚ Thobeka Madiba-Zuma and Bongi Ngema-Zuma.

His third wife, Kate Mantsho, committed suicide in 2000. He is separated from Nompumelelo MaNtuli and divorced from Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

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