Jacob Zuma and LaConco. Picture: Twitter.
Reality TV star Nonkanyiso "LaConco" Conco has caused a social media stir after she shared intimate details about her relationship with former president Jacob Zuma.
On a random Tuesday afternoon, LaC, as she is known to some, shared details about how Zuma had courted her, asked for her hand in marriage and asked her to build a family with her - while naming their son with the same family building convention, Sakhaumuzi.
LaConco is one woman known to stand in her truth but her reveal certainly came as a surprise to her 400,000 followers and scores more on other social media sites.
LaConco had many people camping on her Instagram to see what exactly her “story” was, and it was lengthy.
LaC explained who she was, retracing how she had grown up in a shack, being a cultured and proud virgin, and she also gave some insight into her relationship with the former president.
She shared how, by 2016, they had already been together for four years, but in a “bubble” and that Zuma loved her “loud behind closed doors”.
“People around me could tell I was in love but didn’t know with who. His circle felt my presence too, some did dig and found my pictures, some waited until he was ready to introduce me,” she shared.
“I was in my era of airports and hotels every week... Sometimes I would see him 30 minutes and be fine, this time of my life was a big test of being loyal to my values and principles,” she shared.
LaConco said Zuma proposed to her in January 2018, three months before the birth of their child Sakhaumuzi, which means we are building a family. The journalist by profession would have been Zuma’s seventh wife.
“After we had dinner at one of his houses, he said to me ‘can we talk’,” she recalled.
“I listened to ‘Ntombi ngicela ukwakha umuzi nawe, umuzi ngeke siwakhe engekho umuntu wethu (may I build a family with you, we cannot build a family without a child)’...
“What does he even mean... He said ‘yebo ngakhile kodwa ngicela umuntu wami ozovundla kuwe mtaka Conco (yes I have a big family, but can I build a family with you Miss Conco)’ ... of course I had more questions we had a long conversation talking about a stranger that was not even there and what’s the next step of our lives... this man had a plan,” she said, supposedly sharing details about the night Sakhaumuzi was made.
By April 2018, Sakhaumuzi Zuma was born on his father’s 76th birthday. According to reports, he was delivered by caesarean section at the Busamed Hillcrest Hospital in Durban.
He turned eight as his dad turned 82 about a month ago.
According to LaC, Zuma remarked that the “gender doesn’t matter”, but when he found out it was a boy he was so happy he even made her tea.
“I bought this teddy bear to break the news of our gender. He said to me gender doesn't matter but when he knew it was a boy, wajabula waze wangenzela itiye (he was so happy he made me tea) while whistling to a Soul Brothers song,” she said.
Zuma, according to LaC, named the boy Sakhaumuzi, which means we are building a family, a home.
“I was shocked when he told me that. Haibo, he is (already) blessed with many children. I asked why the name and he said, ‘Since I met you, you have always been a builder, ngiyazi uzoyikhulisa kahle lentsizwa ililandele igama (I know you will raise him to live up to his name)’,” she said.
LaConco said when baby Sakha, as she calls him arrived, she had planned a manicure treatment but this quickly changed to an emergency trip to the hospital. For the former president, his other children had planned a birthday dinner for him around Durban at the time.
“All I wanted is to say happy birthday and hand over his gift which was a baby boy,” she recalled.
LaConco shared how their relationship took strain afterwards, saying the FaceTime calls started to get less and less, he was more quiet and that she could feel through her sixth sense that things were no longer the same.
This, she said, ultimately lead to their eventual separation. She also said Zuma has only recently started spending time with his son.
“I will forever respect him, he will forever be Sakha's hero. My responsibility is to raise him the best way I could. The rest God knows my heart,” she said.
LaConco and Zuma, reportedly broke up and ended their engagement a few years ago, with LaConco since pursuing a career as a businesswoman and a reality TV star on shows such as ‘The Real Housewives of Durban’.
She said she was pursuing these interests to raise her son.
Until these random posts on a Tuesday afternoon, LaConco had until now been coy to share details about her relationship with Zuma, even on screen, so her sudden revelations on social media have prompted many to wonder, why now?
Am I the only one who thinks there's something fishy about LaConco dishing out all this information about ubaba at this time ?? pic.twitter.com/IGlQsR3WcH
— theHirohito® (@theHirohito) May 21, 2024
“There is new information about me that will be revealed and it will probably create a lot of talk, but that all comes with being on a public platform,” LaConco said recently about her time on ‘The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip - South Africa’.
With a week until the show airs, LaConco could be preparing her fans and the public for the information that is going to be revealed and it’s certainly not about her getting another liposuction.
The reality show promises to be a bit of everything drama, shade, and fashion - the diamond walk kind, as the women from the different ‘The Real Housewives’ in South Africa come together.
LaConco appeared on local screens in her first reality series feature on ‘The Real Housewives of Durban’ S1-S2 and will join the rest of the cast in Jamaica.
LaConco is remembered for her catchy buzz words on the show that became part of pop culture, such as “Mnge” and the unforgettable “Gugul Me”. She even launched an apparel business.
Certainly no stranger to fame, LaConco has gone from being engaged to former president Zuma and having his child to being an entrepreneur and a presenter of ‘Our Perfect Wedding’ S12, ‘Forever Thina’ and season two of ‘Ingane Yam’.
Zuma meanwhile, is now the leader of the MK Party, which is seeking a two-thirds majority in the May elections.
IOL Entertainment