Former police minster Fikile Mbalula has opened up about his relationship with his wife Nozuko‚ even admitting that he was not always the perfect husband.
In an interview with Umhlobo Wenene FM‚ Mbalula went into detail about his marriage.
“I have not been a man who’s been well behaved – generally. I’m not a person who believes a wife’s place is at home. I wanted an independent wife‚ but that doesn’t mean‚ as the man of the household‚ I wanted to shrug off my responsibilities‚” Mbalula said.
“I loved that my wife was genuinely interested in me and she also had the agency to tell me when she wasn’t interested anymore. She could speak her mind and tell me when I was getting things wrong. When I observed those traits in her‚ I realised that she was someone who loved sincerely.
“I had never experienced this before and I appreciated it … because I was with somebody who is honest and can take me on.”
Mbalula then explained the difficulty of marrying a woman who has royal blood.
“The traditional wedding was difficult because Nozuko is a princess. It was quite a challenge … there are certain extraordinary things that need to be done when marrying someone from royalty‚ but it was nice because at the end I learnt a lot.”
He said when he found Nozuko she had lost both her parents‚ but he could not tell because Nozuko’s family really took care of her.
I was not a good man‚ says Mbalula
Former police minster Fikile Mbalula has opened up about his relationship with his wife Nozuko‚ even admitting that he was not always the perfect husband.
In an interview with Umhlobo Wenene FM‚ Mbalula went into detail about his marriage.
“I have not been a man who’s been well behaved – generally. I’m not a person who believes a wife’s place is at home. I wanted an independent wife‚ but that doesn’t mean‚ as the man of the household‚ I wanted to shrug off my responsibilities‚” Mbalula said.
“I loved that my wife was genuinely interested in me and she also had the agency to tell me when she wasn’t interested anymore. She could speak her mind and tell me when I was getting things wrong. When I observed those traits in her‚ I realised that she was someone who loved sincerely.
“I had never experienced this before and I appreciated it … because I was with somebody who is honest and can take me on.”
Mbalula then explained the difficulty of marrying a woman who has royal blood.
“The traditional wedding was difficult because Nozuko is a princess. It was quite a challenge … there are certain extraordinary things that need to be done when marrying someone from royalty‚ but it was nice because at the end I learnt a lot.”
He said when he found Nozuko she had lost both her parents‚ but he could not tell because Nozuko’s family really took care of her.
Then Mbalula opened up about the kind of man he is.
“I am the partner who’s troublesome. My wife has never created problems‚ not once. My wife works hard. We faced challenges together. I don’t see life’s challenges ever separating us‚” he said.
He also spoke about a time while he was police minister when he wanted to quit because of the pressures of the job.
“When I was the police minister I dealt with difficult things. As I was waking up one day‚ I thought to myself‚ ‘Let me just give up on being police minister‚ there are too many ill-behaved people‚ and there’s too much backstabbing.’ But I’m a strong character‚ and you know I’m a fighter. Nozuko said to me‚ ‘[When you accepted the position] did you think you were going to your family home? You need to stand up for yourself. Where exactly did you think you were going? Hhayi bo‚ you shouldn’t have bothered President Zuma like this. You should have just told him you were defeated.’
“And that made me think hard: I was honest‚ and asked myself‚ why did I really accept that position? I put up a fight and worked very hard for my people.”
The interview was live on Umhlobo Wenene on Sunday.