Zuma backtracks on ‘Africa is the largest continent’ gaffe

THE South African Presidency has apologised for the president saying that Africa is the largest continent on earth.

In December last year, Jacob Zuma stated that all the continents in the world would fit into Africa. One month later and he is retracting his statement after a tirade on social media platforms. Zuma was speaking at a gala dinner in Sandton when he made the comment.

“This continent is the biggest continent in the world. All continents put together will fit into Africa,” he said at the time.

But yesterday the Presidency released a statement in which they said Zuma ‘regrets the error’.

In the statement, they said: “Africa is in fact the second-biggest continent in terms of population size, and the biggest continent in this regard is Asia. According to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2015, 60 per cent of the world population lives in Asia (4.4 billion), 16 per cent in Africa (1.2 billion), 10 per cent in Europe (737 million), nine per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean (634 million), and the remaining five percent in North America (358 million) and Oceania (39 million).”