'Why Zuma thought the sex was consensual'

2006-03-29 12:16

Johannesburg - The Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday heard a list of reasons Jacob Zuma might have had for thinking his rape accuser had consented to sex.

Her actions also showed that she only decided she had been raped the next day at noon, Zuma's lawyer Kemp J Kemp told the court.

Kemp argued that the woman told police and a psychologist she said "no" to Zuma only twice, on both occasions to his offer of a massage. She testified that she said "no" three times.

Kemp submitted that there were 54 SMSes between Zuma and the woman - mostly from her - in the two months before the alleged rape. She had ended the messages affectionately.

There were also conversations between the woman and Zuma of an "explicit sexual content" where they discussed her not having a boyfriend, that she should drop her standards and that Zuma would comfort her.

On the night of the alleged rape at Zuma's Johannesburg home on November 2, they arranged that he would go to her room after he'd finished working. ]

Zuma might have obtained the impression she didn't object

When Zuma did so, the woman was dressed only in a kanga wrap and the light was on.

Kemp told the court a more thoughtful lover would have spent more time on foreplay, but just because the lead-up to sex happened quickly did not mean the woman was raped.

He contended that, had the woman resisted or screamed, "Zuma would not have got away with it" because there was a policeman nearby and Zuma's daughter was in the house.

The next morning, the woman spent time the house, having a shower, getting fruit and water and making a phone call.

"If it was rape she wouldn't have wandered around the house," Kemp told the court.

She had also testified Zuma might have obtained the impression that she didn't object to sex.

Rape accuser not 'planted'

Kemp was presenting final argument in his application for Zuma's discharge.

Judge Willem van der Merwe he would indicate at 11:30 how much time he needed to reach a decision on the application.

Zuma's defence counsel on Wednesday also denied having said his rape accuser was "planted" as part of a conspiracy against him.

"It's never been a submission that she went there as a specific plant," said Kemp J Kemp.

He was responding to the State's argument on Tuesday that Kemp constantly raised questions about a political conspiracy while he was cross-examining State witnesses.

Kemp again raised the earlier evidence that she'd spoken to National Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils about the alleged rape and to her friend who worked in Kasrils' office.

The former deputy president's defence team are applying for his discharge on a count of rape.

- SAPA