Redi Tlhabi chatted to Cape Talk’s John Maytham about her new book Khwezi: The Remarkable Story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo recently.

‘This is not a Fezeka vs Jacob Zuma issue,’ Tlhabi says, ‘it’s about our society as well, and the things we are willing to let happen, and, I think, the violent masculinity, and the fact that there are males in our society who don’t put the mirror on their faces and do better.’

Click on the link above for more about the book!

Tlhabi says she has always been obsessed with Kuzwayo and what she represents.

‘When Fezekile was exiled shortly after the trial – I mean she didn’t even spend the night in Johannesburg; just after the trial they went to the airport, gone – I couldn’t accept that I was part of a society that allowed a man like that to be the president.’

Tlhabi emphasises that Zuma was acquitted in a court of law, but adds that there are other moral and ethical dictates.

‘Where Jacob Zuma comes from, your child is my child, so he violated all those codes.

‘He said in court that Fezekile Kuzwayo was unsettled, that she was unstable, that she was upset, so how did they move from that to consensual sex?

All I’m saying that the law, of course, looks at facts and facts are important, but Jacob Zuma cannot be allowed to get away with arguing that he was acquitted by a court of law and nothing else matters. There are a whole lot of things that matter.’

Watch the video:

 

Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags CapeTalk Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo John Maytham Jonathan Ball Publishers Khwezi Redi Tlhabi Videos YouTube