VZCZCXRO9480
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSA #2441 1921449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111449Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0725
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 4593
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC UNCLAS PRETORIA 002441 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS:      
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON ANC DEPUTY PRESIDENT 
JACOB ZUMA 
 
 
This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet 
distribution. 
 
 1. (U) ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma, aged 65, is about to 
become a father again, according to the South African 
magazine "YOU."  (NOTE: YOU is published in Afrikaans and 
English, is probably most comparable to People Magazine in 
the US, and has a readership of 2.1 million. END NOTE.) 
Though Zuma has always refused to publicly admit how many 
wives or children he has, the magazine reports that Zuma's 
18th child is on the way.  The mother to be is 35-year old 
Thobeka Stacy Mabhija, a former cell phone company 
administrator from Durban who has reportedly been Zuma's 
girlfriend for the past ten years.  (COMMENT: While we cannot 
confirm the report, a close Embassy contact told PolOffs on 
11 July that she believes it is true.  END COMMENT) 
 
 2. (U) The magazine article links Zuma to at least 8 other 
women: 
 
     -- Sizakele Gertrude Khumalo: They met in 1959 and she 
still lives in Nkandla, Zuma's hometown in Kwa-Zulu Natal. 
She was pregnant once but miscarried.  They have no children 
and are still married. 
 
     -- Kate Mantsho: She was a stewardess for a Mozambican 
airline and committed suicide in 2000 by taking an overdose 
of malaria and sleeping pills.  Her suicide note allegedly 
said she experienced "24 years in a bitter and most painful" 
marriage.  They had five children: Saady, twins Duduzile and 
Duduzane, Phumzile, and Vusi. 
 
     -- Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (current Minister of Foreign 
Affairs): They married in 1982 and divorced in 1998.  Their 
four children are Thutu, Gugu, Thuli, and Msholozi. 
 
     -- Minah Shongwe: Minah is the daughter of Judge 
Jeremiah Shongwe, who recused himself from Zuma's rape trial 
last year on the basis that he was the uncle of Zuma and 
Minah's son, Edward.  Edward was arrested in 2001 after being 
accused of raping a 17-year old fellow student at the 
University of Zululand.  He was released on bail and never 
prosecuted after the alleged victim withdrew the charge. 
 
     -- Unknown woman from Johannesburg with whom he has 
three children, Bridget and a twin son and daughter.  The 
children have lived with Zuma's current girlfriend Mabhija. 
 
     -- An unknown woman in Richards Bay with whom he has a 
daughter Jabulile. 
 
     -- A woman known as MaNtuli, in Nkandla, with whom he 
has a daughter. 
 
 3. (SBU) For those who already consider themselves pro- Zuma, 
the pending birth will have little to no impact on their 
support.  After all, children are a sign of prosperity and 
wealth and a blessing from God and ancestors in Zulu culture. 
 However, for those who do not like Zuma, the latest news 
will confirm his reputation (rightly or wrongly) as a man 
with little control and poor judgment, especially since his 
ability to support his children has been cited as one of the 
possible reasons he accepted money from his convicted friend 
and financial advisor Schabir Shaik. 
Bost