Kate Mantsho Biography: Age, Career, Fashion Brand, Net Worth, and Personal Life
Kate Mantsho was the late wife of South Africa’s previous president and an open polygamist, Jacob Zuma. She was in the prime of her life when her body was discovered, and even after her death, controversies about her death resurfaced.
The former wife of South Africa’s fourth democratically elected president shocked her family and friends. Her husband was not yet president at the time, but he was later elected president of South Africa.
Kate Mantsho Biography
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Kate Mantsho, born in 1956, is originally from Mozambique. She and Jacob Zuma married in 1976 and lived together until she died in 2000. She had five children with him: Saady (born 1980), the twins Duduzane and Duduzile (born 1984), Phumzile (born 1989), and Vusi.
After fathering a kid out of wedlock, the nation was outraged that the then-president could not practise the values of safe sex in the face of South Africa’s high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.
Opinions differed on the moral and health implications of unprotected sex with an unmarried spouse on the president’s side when he was at the forefront of the effort to prevent further spread of the disease.
Following reports of Jacob Zuma’s anti-HIV/AIDS prevention campaign involving safe sex, Duduzane has publicly criticised the insensitivity of discussing his father’s private concerns. He supported his father’s polygamy, claiming that they were willing to share their father.
Career
Duduzane Zuma’s mother, Kate Mantsho, has developed a thriving corporate empire in the mining, building, and real estate sectors. Her commercial acumen and entrepreneurial attitude have contributed significantly to her success.
Mantsho began her entrepreneurial career in the mining industry, where she founded a coal mining company. She eventually expanded her commercial activities into the construction and real estate industries, where she created and managed several successful projects.
Mantsho’s economic success has helped not just her and her family but has also boosted the South African economy. Her firms have produced jobs and helped the country’s economy grow.
In addition to her economic achievements, Mantsho is a committed humanitarian. She supports a variety of humanitarian projects, including education and healthcare. Her willingness to give back to her community reflects her ideals and conviction in the importance of social responsibility.
Kate Mantsho’s business career is an encouragement to everybody who aspires to success. Her experience shows that with hard work, persistence, and a commitment to excellence, you can overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.
Kate Mantsho Death
Kate Mantsho and Jacob Zuma’s marriage was difficult; she left a suicide note with the then-Director-General in the Presidency, Rev. Frank Chikane, on the day she died, describing her marriage as ’24 years in hell’.
On December 8, 2000, her son Duduzane received a distress call from the domestics regarding an incident at the then-deputy president’s official residence, Oliver Thambo House in Pretoria. When he reached her, she was unresponsive and foaming at the mouth, but she had left a message.
The suicide note has continued to spark controversy as several parties involved, most notably Frank Chikane and the Zuma family, have levelled charges against one another. In a recent Zoom discussion, as part of Zooming with the Zumas, Duduzane told his father that the last time he saw the letter, it was in Chikane’s hand.
Chikane has contested charges of being labelled a liar by recounting the events leading up to her death, in which the depressed late Kate Mantsho phoned him to inform him that she had overdosed on antimalarial medications. Still, when he arrived, he called an ambulance and was puzzled why one had not been called.
She was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital; he later had to communicate the news to her husband, who was on a business trip.
She attempted to communicate with him and instructed one of his sons to pick up a letter, which turned out to be the suicide note, which he never revealed to the media.
Since the suicide note was attached to the docket, it appears that the police revealed its contents. She was put to rest in Heroes Acre at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg during a state burial.
Personal Life
Apart from his fiancées and other ladies who have not been publicly acknowledged, six women have been related to Jacob Zuma’s marriage as of yet. Kate Mantsho was his second wife, and after she died in 2000, he married three other women.
Jacob Zuma was already married to his first wife, Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo, with whom he had no children. Kate Mantsho gave birth to their first child in 1980, although the polygamous Zuma had already had a kid from an adulterous affair with Minah Shongwe.
Kate Mantsho and Jacob Zuma have five children during the course of their 24-year marriage. Her children were still small when she died in 2000, yet they remember their mother.
Among her 5 children, the twins, Duduzane and Duduzile, are very vociferous in their defence of their father.
Kate Mantsho Net Worth
At the time of her death, her husband was South Africa’s deputy president. It is unclear whether she was involved in other business or professional activities, but what is apparent is that while president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma’s family received special treatment from the national treasury, possibly more than any previous president before him. It is believed that he spent R54.6 on his wives. Jacob Zuma is one of South Africa’s richest politicians, with an estimated net worth of $20 million.
