Zoom-out time for Zuma

President Jacob Zuma is by some accounts, an extremely charismatic and charming man. By others, he also has the morals of an alley cat. But then I suppose the same applies to former US Presidents Bill Clinton and John F Kennedy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and an entire phalanx of prominent politicians going right back to the time when Adam and Eve’s offspring formed the first parliament. There seems to be little doubt that this sort of behaviour is universal.

I would surmise that no society on earth can claim to be in a position to cast the first stone with regard to the moral integrity of their leading politicians. In the South African context, the impact of Mr Zuma’s culture and somewhat cavalier attitude to extra-marital sex has become the subject of intense debate.

I listened with interest to a radio interview with some of South Africa’s leading HIV/Aids researchers who were emphatic that as far as youths aged 14-19 years were concerned, Mr Zuma’s actions had no effect on them. They said teenagers were almost entirely influenced by peer pressure, and did not take much notice of what adults did.

Mr Zuma’s actions on the integrity and fine standing of South Africa in a global context probably will not have much impact of trade or tourism. I spoke to someone who attended a recent global mining seminar in this country when news broke of Mr Zuma’s liaison with the daughter of LOC chairman and Orlando Pirates owner Irvin Khoza. He said that while foreign delegates were openly laughing about it all, this seemed to have no impact of their decision on whether to invest in South Africa or to continue doing business with this country.

But then, history is full of examples of how business has the habit of separating money and morality. The way in which the world is clamouring to do business with China is a case in point. No one seems to be the least perturbed by China’s appalling human rights records in their rush for profit.

I believe, however, that the biggest impact of Zuma’s actions will be on the spread of HIV/Aids among adults and on the campaign to bring down the ludicrously high incidence of rape, wife-bashing and widespread abuse of women’s rights in this country. While youngsters might not be influenced by their elders, the same cannot be said for adults.

It worries me that too many older married men will pay little heed to Mr Zuma’s culture, and just assume that cheating on their wives and having sex with multiple partners is quite acceptable. While Mr Zuma may well respect his wives, for many the transition between accepting adultery as something perfectly acceptable and moving on to losing respect for women and ultimately physical abuse might just come naturally.

I am not a woman, at least not last time I looked. But if I were, I’d feel somewhat demeaned by the notion of one man being able to have numerous wives and to have extramarital sex, but not being allowed, in principle, to do the same. I would wonder about that part of our constitution emphasising gender equality.

It worries me that culture is being used more and more as an excuse. History is littered with examples of how culture has been forced to adapt to modern circumstance. After all, it is generally accepted that the practice of cannibalism has no place in modern society. Even here in South Africa the cultural tradition of female circumcision has fallen out of favour.

One has to ask the question about whether multiple partner sex should still be regarded as a valid part of a modern culture in a world so devastated by HIV/Aids? One has to ask about the culture of brandishing traditional weapons in a modern society in which protest can so easily turn into violence.

But it is not just about Mr Zuma’s culture. There are many cultural practices the world over that make no sense in modern society. For example, in the Maharashtra state of India it is common practice to toss newborn babies off the side of a 15m tall temple. This ritual is believed to strengthen the children, give them good luck well into adulthood as well as “courage and intelligence”.

And anyone who has been to China would have seen the locals spitting openly on the streets, or even indoors in nice restaurants. It could easily be argued that this is a custom that should adapt to circumstances — the main one being the attempt to stop swine flu spreading.

Positive culture is by no means a bad thing. Holding on to destructive, outdated, egoistic cultural elements is simply insane.