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Oil Mabhija to finally be Zuma's wife No 5
January 09, 2009 Edition 1
Those close to Thobeka Mabhija, fiancée of ANC president Jacob Zuma, say the traditional handing of gifts from the family of the bride-to-be to Zuma's family has taken place and that the couple are to marry next year.
Yesterday friends, former colleagues and close associates of Mabhija gave the Cape Argus an insight into the woman who is to marry one of the most powerful people in the country.
They describe Thobeka Stacey Mabhija as "beautiful, glamorous and outgoing".
She was born in Durban in 1973. At the time, Zuma had already spent several years on Robben Island and was reviving ANC underground structures.
Mabhija grew up in Umlazi and matriculated at Umlazi Commercial High School.
She studied part-time for a BCom at the Umlazi campus of the University of Zululand, where she graduated.
Mabhija later worked for Standard Bank before moving to Ithala (KwaZulu Finance Corporation), where she worked in the property division.
She moved to Cell C in 2002 where, among other positions, she worked as administration manager.
"Her arrival for work at Cell C in the mornings was a spectacle as she would be dropped off in VIP vehicles under the watchful eye of bodyguards," said a former colleague, who asked not to be identified.
Mabhija later moved to SA Homeloans in La Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, where she held an executive position.
After going on maternity leave in October in 2007, she did not return to work.
She gave birth to Zuma's child, a girl, who turned one in October last year.
"The two met while Zuma was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for economic affairs and tourism and have been going out for more than 10 years," a friend said.
In 2007, Zuma paid lobola to the Mabhija family and there were talks of a pending marriage. Instead, he married Nompumelelo Ntuli last January.
Last year there were reports of Mabhija boasting that she was on the verge of being the first lady after Zuma had been elected ANC president.
However, in an interview, she denied having eyed first-lady status, declaring that she preferred her personal life to remain private.
Friends say she has moved to one of Durban's affluent suburbs and is unlikely to live in Nkandla, where Zuma has a home, after the wedding.
When Zuma finally marries Mabhija, she will become his fifth wife.
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