DURBAN: Jacob Zuma’s eldest son, Edward Zuma, has come to his father’s defence after a producer at Lotus FM Ravi Govender called him a zombie and an “uneducated creature”.
In a post that has since been removed from his Facebook wall, Govender wrote: “Just heard Zombie Zuma giving a speech on the news. Massacring the beautiful English language. Makes me ashamed to know this man leads this country.”
Zuma, who issued a statement condemning Govender’s post said they were horrified when they saw it.
“Over the past years, as the family, we have endured humiliation that cannot be described as a result of many insults from radio presenters, journalists, columnists and cartoonists who at times produce pornographic material aimed at tarnishing the image of my father,” he said.
He said the Zuma family failed to understand what prompted Govender to make such a statement.
“Is this still part of the freedom of speech? We believe that this is the worst form of the abuse of democracy that many of our leaders fought so hard to achieve,” said Zuma.
He called on all South Africans to remember the values which the country is built on such as tolerance.
Zuma also added that his father championed programmes geared towards strengthening democracy, “often spending time away from his family as a sign of his selflessness”.
“It is true that this country is facing many challenges but to say our father is a zombie is not only an insult to us as the family but to the whole country and ANC members”.
Socio-political expert Dr Bheki Mngomezulu said Govender’s post carried both racial and political negligence undertones.
“People who publish such statements do so without thinking about the consequences and it is dangerous, even more so when a person is in a position of influence like a radio personality with a huge following,” he explained.
Mngomezulu said it was not a secret that many people did not like Zuma but he was a democratically elected president and his office should be given the respect it deserved.
“When you see things like these you realise that our country still has a long way to go in terms of social cohesion and nation building,” he said. Govender has since retracted his statement and deleted the post, saying it was not intended to disrespect anyone.
“It wasn’t meant to be defamatory or anything and I have apologised. I love the English language and I wrote that in a moment of anger but I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said yesterday.