THE Rustenberg Orchid Society has named an orchid after President Jacob Zuma, who was quite chuffed by the honour of having an orchid named after him.

"As you know, I grew up where there are a lot of flowers," Zuma told journalists in Pretoria.

"As a herdboy, I would walk around collecting flowers; many of them, I did not know their names. Thank you very much for the honour."

The flower is called Phalaenopsis Jacob Zuma.

President of the ROS Tinus Oberholzer presented the flower to Zuma at the Union Buildings.

"There are very few people in South Africa with orchids named after them."

Former president Nelson Mandela had an orchid named after him but that was done in Singapore, he said.

"We thought that in celebration of the forthcoming orchid show, we would honour the current president (Jacob Zuma) by naming the orchid after him."

Zuma was given the option to choose from four different Phalaenopsis orchids.

"He chose the one with the bright yellow colouring," said Oberholzer, adding that it reminded him of butterflies from during his childhood days.

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