The 24-year-old has already changed her name to Nonkanyiso Conco Zuma after having Jacob Zuma’s child earlier this month.
A picture of eNCA recording former president Jacob Zuma’s soon-to-be seventh wife, Nonkanyiso Conco, was uploaded to social media and drew comment because of the obvious awkwardness of it.
The cheerful young Zulu maiden, who is now 24 years old, stands confidently in the shot while the cameraman and interviewee look the other way.
One user explained that, apparently, in Zulu culture it’s “not allowed to look at mkhulu’s [big man’s] wife, hence they have to look the other way!”
However, it’s not clear when the photo was taken, and it is presumably from several years ago, since Conco no longer participates as a maiden in the Zulu Reed Dance. It’s also probably just a deceptive shot, since it looks as though both men are just briefly looking at someone talking to them from over their shoulders, making it look as though they’re avoiding looking at Conco.
Nevertheless, the image is still pretty funny.
The outfit she is wearing matches a picture of her from this 2013 article, in which she was interviewed about not wanting to allow people from other races to be part of Zulu tradition.
At the time, she and other young women accused King Goodwill Zwelithini of “giving preferential treatment to Indian and white maidens while paying scant attention to people who had been the backbone of the event since it was revived 29 years ago”.
Credit: The Citizen