Judge says Zuma must face the music

JOHANNESBURG – A South African judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss a rape case against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma, a fresh blow for the onetime presidential frontrunner now fighting separate sex and graft scandals.

Johannesburg High Court Judge Willem van der Merwe, ruling on a mid-trial defence bid to have the rape case dismissed due to lack of evidence, said the trial would continue because the charges may yet be proven. “The accused is therefore not entitled to a discharge,” van der Merwe told a packed courtroom in downtown Johannesburg.Once seen as the leading candidate to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when his term expires in 2009, the 63-year-old Zuma was sacked last year amid a corruption scandal and later charged with rape by a 31-year-old AIDS activist who was a longtime family friend.Van der Merwe said Zuma’s defence team, led by lawyer Kemp J.Kemp, had failed to demonstrate that the prosecution would be unable to prove that Zuma had intended rape when he had sex with his accuser at his Johannesburg home last November.”Mr Kemp made a detailed analysis of the evidence so far and the accused is entitled to hear how I evaluate the evidence, which I will do at the appropriate time,” he said.Kemp and his colleagues declined to comment on the ruling as they left the court.The defence is scheduled to begin presenting its case on Monday – launching a process which may see Zuma himself take the stand.In a two-line statement, lead prosecutor Charin de Beer said, “We have always believed that we have a provable case, and we are indeed prepared for the next phase of the trial.”The ruling marks another setback for Zuma, who still faces a high profile corruption trial later this year that could pound the final nail into his political coffin.Zuma, who remains deputy president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has said the graft charges against him are part of a plot by his enemies to derail his presidential hopes, fanning political tensions within the party.- Nampa-Reuters”The accused is therefore not entitled to a discharge,” van der Merwe told a packed courtroom in downtown Johannesburg.Once seen as the leading candidate to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when his term expires in 2009, the 63-year-old Zuma was sacked last year amid a corruption scandal and later charged with rape by a 31-year-old AIDS activist who was a longtime family friend.Van der Merwe said Zuma’s defence team, led by lawyer Kemp J.Kemp, had failed to demonstrate that the prosecution would be unable to prove that Zuma had intended rape when he had sex with his accuser at his Johannesburg home last November.”Mr Kemp made a detailed analysis of the evidence so far and the accused is entitled to hear how I evaluate the evidence, which I will do at the appropriate time,” he said.Kemp and his colleagues declined to comment on the ruling as they left the court.The defence is scheduled to begin presenting its case on Monday – launching a process which may see Zuma himself take the stand.In a two-line statement, lead prosecutor Charin de Beer said, “We have always believed that we have a provable case, and we are indeed prepared for the next phase of the trial.”The ruling marks another setback for Zuma, who still faces a high profile corruption trial later this year that could pound the final nail into his political coffin.Zuma, who remains deputy president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has said the graft charges against him are part of a plot by his enemies to derail his presidential hopes, fanning political tensions within the party.- Nampa-Reuters