Ncube's son to wed Zuma's daughter

Ncube's son to wed Zuma's daughter

FOOTY FAN: Manchester United fan Wesley and his bride, Gugulethu. The couple will have two wedding ceremonies in Zimbabwe and South Africa

CONFIRMED: Ncube attending son's wedding in South Africa

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Posted to the web: 15/11/2008 01:36:44
A BUDDING actress and a human numbers cruncher – hardly qualities for an exciting wedding couple! Except they are the children of famous politicians on either side of the Limpopo River.

Wesley Bongani Ncube, 25, the son of prominent Zimbabwean politician, Professor Welshman Ncube, will on Saturday wed Gugulethu Zuma, the second daughter of South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Wedding invitations have gone out to about 200 guests -- including top politicians from Zimbabwe and South Africa -- for the private ceremony at Dlamini-Zuma’s palatial home in Pretoria on Saturday. A second ceremony will be held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on December 27.

Zuma, tipped to become President in July next year, and Ncube, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will be in attendance.

News of the wedding leaked to weekend newspapers in both Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Speaking to New Zimbabwe.com on Sunday, Ncube said: “I’ve been rather surprised that a wedding between children of politicians is something of interest to the newspapers.”

Ncube confirmed he would be in South Africa on Saturday to witness his son – who is studying Statistics and Mathematics at the University of Cape Town – tying the knot with Zuma’s daughter, a budding actress best known for her role as Sergeant Bhelu Mini in the SABC1 drama series, Interrogation Room.

Saturday’s ceremony will be a white wedding, said wedding co-ordinator Sibongiseni Duma, and the ceremony in Bulawayo, planned for Hall No 4 at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Grounds, will be traditional.

The Zuma and Ncube families are said to have been reluctant to make public the wedding plans fearing a huge turnout by supporters of the two famous politicians which could turn the organisation of the wedding into a logistical nightmare. Zuma is known to draw huge crowds wherever he goes, and his Bulawayo visit could attract hordes of curious locals wanting to catch a glimpse of the man tipped to be South Africa’s President in elections next July.

Zuma, who has three wives, divorced from Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in 1998 over “irreconcilable differences”. They had four daughters – Msholozi, Gugulethu, Thuli and Thuthu.

PROUD PARENTS: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and ex-husband Jacob Zuma attending daughter's wedding in Zimbabwe

Professor Ncube told New Zimbabwe.com his son and Zuma’s daughter had been dating “for quite some time”.

They are believed to have met at the University of Cape Town where they were both studying.

On his Facebook profile, Wesley – educated at the private Falcon College in Esigodini, Matabeleland South -- lists God among his interests. A keen Manchester United fan, he also reveals that he likes “playing manager”. His music taste varies from Jazz, RnB, Hip Hop, Rock to Pop.

He notes that his favourite movies include Denzel Washington’s Oscar winner, Training Day, Spiderman 2, Superman Returns and Xmen before commenting: “… starting to see a worrying trend there.”

When not crunching numbers, Wesley works as a volunteer at the Jubilee Community Church which says on its website, in a section about students, that it can be their “home away from home”.

It adds: “There are lots of people of all ages to get to know. Such friendships might seem intimidating at first but the relationships you develop will be part of your life for years. Who knows, you may even meet your future partner here!”

In 2007, Gugulethu was nominated for the 34th Annual Student Academy Awards in the United States.

Zuma was one of six "key crew" third-year students from the SA School of Motion Picture and Performance (Afda) in Observatory who created the film, Sindiswa.

She was nominated in the Honorary Foreign Film category, the only category open to foreign films in the Student Oscars. The award is given by the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences - the same organisation that holds the Oscars. Over 40 foreign film schools worldwide compete for the award.

Gugulethu told a South African newspaper last year that she decided while doing Grade 11 not to follow her father into politics.

"I decided the way I wanted to influence people was through media, and film-making specifically," she said.

Professor Ncube has met Jacob Zuma on several occasions as South Africa is a major player in efforts to end a decade-long political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

The new union between their children could tighten the relationship between the two men.
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