South African President Jacob Zuma has blamed Christianity for some of Africa's woes, according to a media report Wednesday, his latest comments likely to provoke anger in the country's churches. "As Africans, long before the arrival of religion and gospel, we had our own ways of doing things," Zuma said during a launch of a road safety and crime awareness campaign, ahead of the Christmas holiday.
"Those were times that the religious people refer to as dark days but we know that, during those times, there were no orphans or old-age homes. Christianity has brought along these things," Zuma said, according to the Times daily. Zuma, who himself was ordained in 2007 as a priest of the Full Gospel Church, previously angered Christian congregations when he said his party, the African National Congress (ANC), would rule until the return of Jesus.