Trade union federation Cosatu has urged South Africans to accept President Jacob Zuma’s apology about his love child.

Zuma issued a statement at the weekend saying he deeply regrets the pain he caused his family, the ANC, the Tripartite Alliance and the nation by having an extra-marital affair with Sonono Khoza, which resulted in a daughter.

Khoza is the daughter of 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee Chairperson Irvin Khoza, a close friend of Zuma’s.

However, there have been mixed reactions over the president’s public apology.

Cosatu’s Patrick Craven said the issue must be put to rest now.

“Cosatu itself has accepted the apology and has urged all san’s to do the same. And we are sure that the overwhelming majority while disapproving of what he did will accept his apology and will want to put this unfortunate incident behind us,” he said.