Jacob Zuma pleads not guilty to rape

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s most explosive rape trial resumed yesterday with former deputy president Jacob Zuma saying he had consensual sex with an HIV-positive woman but the alleged victim insisted she was violated by a father figure.

Zuma denied guilt in the case that could seal the veteran’s leader’s political demise after graft allegations that cost him his job as South Africa’s number two and being a frontrunner in the race to succeed President Thabo Mbeki. But the alleged victim, an AIDS activist, said she had been raped by a man she considered her father and whom she had known since the age of five.Zuma, who entered the court amid tight security, was asked by chief prosecutor Charin de Beer if he had “unlawfully and intentionally assaulted an adult female and had sexual intercourse with her”.He stood up and replied “not guilty.”According to a statement by Zuma read out by judge Willem van der Merwe, the alleged victim had come to his Johannesburg home on the night of November 2, and they had sex upon mutual consent.Zuma said in his statement that he and the 31-year-old woman had “intercourse which lasted for some time and was consensual,” adding: “She had a cellphone which she could have used and she could have left the place at any time.”The alleged victim testified later in front of Judge van der Merwe and Zuma and recounted her version of events, her voice breaking while describing the alleged assault.”I saw him as a father and I treated him as a father and he treated me as a daughter,” she said of Zuma, who was a close friend of her father and his comrade in prison during South Africa’s liberation struggle.She said she had called Zuma after receiving news that a relative had been bitten by a snake in Swaziland and that Zuma asked her to come home before proceeding for the tiny kingdom surrounded by South Africa.”Umalume (uncle in Zulu) then said to me I must go and prepare for bed.He said he was going up to the study to do some work for about 45 minutes and he said he would see me when he was done …he said then ‘I’ll come and tuck you in.’” “I didn’t think anything of it, its just my father saying I’ll tuck you in,” she said but added that Zuma later entered the room and started massaging her shoulders.She feigned sleep but when she opened her eyes, he was naked.He then forced himself on her, she said, and climaxed inside her, her voice breaking.Zuma looked on impassively during the testimony.The atmosphere outside the court was charged with pro- and anti-Zuma protests taking place cheek by jowl.A few hundred Zuma supporters thronged the tightly patrolled area around the Johannesburg High Court, singing lustily and voicing their total backing for one of the country’s senior most leaders from the majority Zulu race.Mandlenkosi Khumbuza, 53, said there was no doubt in his mind as to who the victim was.”It is Jacob Zuma who was raped.I believe that the lady has been bought,” he said, referring to the accuser.Meanwhile, women’s groups held an all-night vigil at a nearby church and launched a “One in Nine Campaign” to show solidarity with victims of sexual violence.According to South Africa’s Medical Research Council, only one in nine rape cases are reported.Many Zuma supporters believe both an earlier graft charge – which led to his sacking as the country’s number two – and subsequent rape charges are part of a political conspiracy against the 63-year-old politician to prevent him from succeeding President Mbeki when he steps down in 2009.Mbeki fired Zuma last June in a major corruption scandal and Zuma is due to go on trial on two graft charges in July this year.- Nampa-AFPBut the alleged victim, an AIDS activist, said she had been raped by a man she considered her father and whom she had known since the age of five.Zuma, who entered the court amid tight security, was asked by chief prosecutor Charin de Beer if he had “unlawfully and intentionally assaulted an adult female and had sexual intercourse with her”.He stood up and replied “not guilty.”According to a statement by Zuma read out by judge Willem van der Merwe, the alleged victim had come to his Johannesburg home on the night of November 2, and they had sex upon mutual consent.Zuma said in his statement that he and the 31-year-old woman had “intercourse which lasted for some time and was consensual,” adding: “She had a cellphone which she could have used and she could have left the place at any time.”The alleged victim testified later in front of Judge van der Merwe and Zuma and recounted her version of events, her voice breaking while describing the alleged assault.”I saw him as a father and I treated him as a father and he treated me as a daughter,” she said of Zuma, who was a close friend of her father and his comrade in prison during South Africa’s liberation struggle.She said she had called Zuma after receiving news that a relative had been bitten by a snake in Swaziland and that Zuma asked her to come home before proceeding for the tiny kingdom surrounded by South Africa.”Umalume (uncle in Zulu) then said to me I must go and prepare for bed.He said he was going up to the study to do some work for about 45 minutes and he said he would see me when he was done …he said then ‘I’ll come and tuck you in.’” “I didn’t think anything of it, its just my father saying I’ll tuck you in,” she said but added that Zuma later entered the room and started massaging her shoulders.She feigned sleep but when she opened her eyes, he was naked.He then forced himself on her, she said, and climaxed inside her, her voice breaking.Zuma looked on impassively during the testimony.The atmosphere outside the court was charged with pro- and anti-Zuma protests taking place cheek by jowl.A few hundred Zuma supporters thronged the tightly patrolled area around the Johannesburg High Court, singing lustily and voicing their total backing for one of the country’s senior most leaders from the majority Zulu race.Mandlenkosi Khumbuza, 53, said there was no doubt in his mind as to who the victim was.”It is Jacob Zuma who was raped.I believe that the lady has been bought,” he said, referring to the accuser.Meanwhile, women’s groups held an all-night vigil at a nearby church and launched a “One in Nine Campaign” to show solidarity with victims of sexual violence.According to South Africa’s Medical Research Council, only one in nine rape cases are reported.Many Zuma supporters believe both an earlier graft charge – which led to his sacking as the country’s number two – and subsequent rape charges are part of a political conspiracy against the 63-year-old politician to prevent him from succeeding President Mbeki when he steps down in 2009.Mbeki fired Zuma last June in a major corruption scandal and Zuma is due to go on trial on two graft charges in July this year.- Nampa-AFP