Jean-Jacques Cornish

Jacob Zuma’s fiancee forced to resign

Former president Jacob Zuma’s 24-year-old fiancee has been forced to resign from her job with an organisation protecting the cultural practices of Zulu maidens

The woman, who is 52 years younger than Zuma, gave birth to his 23rd child on his birthday 12 days ago.

As the national treasurer and media spokesman for the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation, Nonkanyiso Conco is on record supporting virginity tests for unmarried  Zulu  women.

It’s program called She Conquers is designed to counter the culture of young women taking sugar daddies, known in South African parlance as blessers, to supply their material needs.

Conco was given until yesterday (Monday) to resign after reports of her romance with Zuma.

She was accused of failing to disclose her relationship with Zuma and not being transparent about their affiliation.

Conco admits she has been spending time with  Zuma at his Nkandla home home since she was 19. He has promised that on leaving office he will make her his seventh wife.

Deputy chairperson of the organisation Leonora Mathe confirms that Conco has handed in her resignation letter, adding that it has been accepted.

She Conquers was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2016 to tackle issues facing women in South Africa, including the rising rate of HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women; teenage pregnancy; and gender-based violence.

Mathe says Conco’s affiliation with Zuma is against what the organisation aims to achieve.

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.