Zuma's family denies that wives are at war

President Jacob Zuma’s brother has refuted reports that the president’s wives, Thobeka Madiba and Nompumelelo Ntuli are at each other’s throats.

“There is no such a thing. They are not fighting.

They [the media] should have asked us as a family to tell them the truth,” Zuma’s younger brother Michael said on Wednesday.

The Times reported that Madiba and Ntuli were “extremely jealous” of each other, to the point that Ntuli boycotted Madiba’s wedding to the president on Monday.

Zuma was unable to explain why Ntuli, who tied the knot with Zuma two years ago, did not attend the much publicised wedding. Ntuli could not be reached on her cellphone on Wednesday.

The paper reported Zuma’s wives were involved in an “ugly war of attrition” since both moved to the president’s homestead in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, a few years ago.

The president’s other wives are Sizakele Khumalo, whom he married in 1973. He was previously married to current Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, whom he divorced in 1998, and Kate Mantsho Zuma, who committed suicide in 2000.

He is also engaged to Gloria Bongi Ngema from Durban. Her family presented umbondo (gifts) to the Zuma family at the end of December.