Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Zuma's plural marriage
AP reports on the early 2010 activities of Jacob Zuma:
South Africa's president formalized his marriage to his third wife during a traditional ceremony Monday amid media reports he plans to take a fourth bride later this year.There was no mention in the AP piece about Bill Clinton, and whether he attended in body or in spirit.
Some 2,000 guests thronged a homestead in rural KwaZulu-Natal province to watch the ceremony in which 67-year-old President Jacob Zuma and 38-year-old Tobeka Madiba took part.
Zuma has violated an important moral code, one that has been in place in civilized society for at least the last decade or so: the appropriate age for a second or third wife is no less than 50% of your current age, plus 7 years. That is, Zuma ought to have married someone no younger than 40 years old ([67/2]+7). I know this is a rule, because a middle-aged woman told me about it last year. As if.
My Hungarian grandfather ignored this rule (in fairness, the rule wasn't yet in place), and look what happened to him...come to think of it, actually, I guess it turned out OK. His third wife -- in series, not in parallel, unlike Zuma -- was less than half of his age when they married. I have a decent amount of his DNA in me, so there could be hope.
Congratulations to President Zuma and his newest wife. Zuma is doing his part to represent for middle-aged guys.
2 Comments:
By 
Don Cox, at
Tue Jan 05, 05:21:00 AM:
I think that rule applies to all wives, not just second and subsequent.
It appeared in Parkinson's "Inlaws and Outlaws", which was published in 1962, and I always assumed he invented it. But it may have been well-known even then.
By 
, at
Wed Jan 06, 11:56:00 AM:
67 is old, not "middle aged." Old guys do this out of fear of death, and because they often have power. Middle aged men -- who knows what the fuck they want? not them.
