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Polity
Article by: Sapa
Published: 04 Feb 2010
Zuma takes time out
President Jacob Zuma has cancelled his public engagements over the next two days so that he can rest following a "hectic" schedule, his office said on Thursday.

"The President of the Republic, President Jacob Zuma will today and tomorrow, 4 February and 5 February, take time off to rest following a hectic schedule," a Presidency statement said.

In the last week Zuma has travelled to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and an African Union meeting in Ethiopia and on his return, walked into a controversy over a child he fathered with a woman not his wife.

His spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told Sapa: "The President is fine. It's just his hectic schedule.

"Next week he has the State of the Nation address, that will be followed by the Budget and so on," he said, elaborating on why Zuma needed to take time out.

He would also be part of an African National Congress national working committee meeting in the Western Cape on Sunday.

Zuma, who is in his 60s, would be resting in Johannesburg.

He also had the support of his family who, said Kodwa, understood what had happened.

Kodwa said the release of Zuma's statement confirming a report that he fathered a child with a woman he was not married to last year, closed the matter and helped people understand it.

The President, who has three wives and a fiancée, confirmed that he had a relationship with Sonono Khoza, daughter of World Cup local organising committee chairperson Irvin Khoza and they had a child together last year.

The Presidency and the ruling party had at first said it was a private matter, but Zuma then issued a statement confirming the Sunday Times report.

"I said during World Aids Day that we must all take personal responsibility for our actions. I have done so," a statement issued on his behalf said.

"I have done the necessary cultural imperatives in a situation of this nature, for example the formal acknowledgement of paternity and responsibility, including the payment of inhlawulo to the family."

The gist of the criticism levelled at him was that his actions did not appear to be in line with government's HIV/Aids policies - a suggestion that he disagrees with.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will deliver Zuma's opening address at the inaugural meeting of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Council in Pretoria on Thursday and a Friday credentials ceremony for new ambassadors has been moved to next week.