Zuma’s wife gets rid of ‘disturbed’ woman

THOBEKA Madiba-Zuma, President Jacob Zuma’s fifth wife, allowed a woman being investigated for theft and assault to share her Durban home for four months this year — until psychological assessments raised suspicions.

Madiba-Zuma said this week that the 23-year-old woman, who may not be named, was made to leave amid fears that she was a threat to the family’s safety and security.

The woman, who stayed from January to April, regularly dined on Nando’s and salads with the family and was driven to classes at Umlazi Comtech High School, south of Durban, by a chauffeur.

Madiba-Zuma said the woman’s welcome ended after she allegedly assaulted schoolmates, lied about being sexually abused by her father and accused Madiba-Zuma of grooming her to become her widowed brother’s bride.

“What disappointed us the most was the level of dishonesty . . . These allegations are very personal,” said Madiba-Zuma, who took the woman in after reading about her in the newspaper Ilanga.

The newspaper quoted the woman as saying she had been sexually abused since 2008 by her father, a Johannesburg taxi owner who had allegedly taken her from her mother in Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal.

She said her father kept her locked up in an inner-city flat in Johannesburg, brought her groceries twice a week and repeatedly raped her. She said she gave birth to a daughter who died last year at the age of two.

The woman said she tried to commit suicide — once by drinking paraffin and once by taking an overdose of pills — before she was rescued by an aunt.

After reading the story, MadibaZuma contacted the woman and invited her to stay.

“One of the things I did to assist her . . . was to send her to a psychologist for an assessment and therapy sessions,” said Madiba-Zuma. “The feedback we received was that the girl seemed to be very relaxed for someone who had gone through such an ordeal.”

She said changes in the woman’s behaviour “further intensified our suspicions” about her claim to have been abused by her father.

In March, the woman was expelled from Umlazi Comtech after physically assaulting a school mate.

“She bragged [to my staff] about having affairs at the school with schoolmates,” said Madiba-Zuma.

She was also startled about claims that she was grooming the woman to marry her brother. “My brother is the one who had been taking her to the psychologist twice a month . . . my brother has a fiancée. These allegations are very personal and damaging,” she said.

“It turned out that there was no pending case of rape against her father . . . but there were cases opened against her, which include theft and assault.

“After coming across this information there was no inch of doubt in my mind that keeping her in our environment would compromise our safety and security. She is a disturbed young girl [who] needs help.”

Bodyguards took the woman to Mayville, a suburb south of Durban, where she was left at her aunt’s home. She now has a job as a domestic worker for a Durban family.