Yesterday, our gaffe-prone president went a step further, telling a community in rural KwaZulu-Natal that religion, particularly Christianity, is to blame for the loss of humanity in society.

At the launch of a road safety campaign, Zuma, speaking in Zulu, broke away from his prepared speech to pour scorn on the men and women of the cloth.

"As Africans, long before the arrival of religion and the gospel, we had our own ways of doing things,'' he said.

''Those were the times the religious people or priests 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.

There is nothing wrong with pleading the case for the respect of traditional culture, but Zuma does his cause - and that of the ANC - no good by slagging off Christianity.

Has he forgotten that South Africa is predominantly Christian, with tens of millions of people from diverse communities religiously attending a rich variety of churches, some of which incorporate traditional cultural practices in their services?

Has he forgotten that his ANC was formed, in 1912, in the Dutch Reformed Church in Waaihoek, Bloemfontein?

Has he forgotten that, while the ANC was banned, courageous clerics such as Desmond Tutu and Allan Boesak were at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid?

And has he forgotten that, when he was trying to rally support against Thabo Mbeki in 2007, he took his charm offensive to the pulpit and was made an honorary pastor of the Full Gospel Community Church in Ntuzuma?