The year had barely begun when the Sunday Times broke the story that President Jacob Zuma had fathered a child out of wedlock with Sonono Khoza, the daughter of football don and close friend Irvin Khoza.
The news broke just a few weeks after World Aids Day, when Zuma publically exhorted South Africans to stem the tide of HIV by using condoms when having sex.
There was a public outcry over the incident. Zuma had recently taken a third wife, and is engaged to a fourth woman. The baby girl was Zuma's 20th child.
After initially ignoring the speculation and berating the media for reporting on what it said was a personal affair, the ANC admitted that Zuma had paid inhlawulo, or damages, to the Khoza family.
Zuma eventually issued an apology to the ANC and to the nation but his public image was irreversibly tainted.