Judge doesn't see 'Zuma plot'

2006-03-28 18:58

Johannesburg - Judge Willem van der Merwe cast doubt on Tuesday on whether a rape charge against former deputy president Jacob Zuma was part of a plot to end his political career.

Once the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki, Zuma is accused of raping a 31-year-old HIV-positive woman at his Johannesburg home in November but the defence contends that they had consensual sex without a condom.

"If she was part and parcel of a political conspiracy, isn't it a high price to pay to be a complainant... for any woman to stand in court... and give evidence on rape must be a horrific experience," said Judge Van der Merwe.

Defence lawyer Kemp J Kemp replied: "My lord, people have done worse things than that in conspiracies."

The judge was reacting to a claim by Kemp that the woman phoned Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils after the alleged rape because she knew he was part of the anti-Zuma camp in the divided African National Congress.

The ANC split into pro-Mbeki and pro-Zuma factions after the president fired Zuma in a major corruption scandal last June.

'No hard evidence of plot'

Zuma, 63, who will go on trial on two corruption charges in a separate case in July, has said that case is part of a political conspiracy to prevent him from succeeding Mbeki when the president steps down in 2009.

But State lawyer Herman Broodryk told the court on Tuesday that the defence had not produced any hard evidence to support the claim.

"If there was a political conspiracy, it wasn't the most well-planned conspiracy.

"If it was a conspiracy, one would have expected her to storm out of the house and lay this complaint with blood flowing all over her face...

"(But) she didn't even have a proper injury," said Broodryk.

The State was opposing an application by the defence for the case to be dismissed.

Earlier in the day, the defence had argued that the alleged victim did not clearly say "no" to sex, but the State pointed out that she had said "no" three times to a massage before the alleged rape.

Kemp told the court: "She is quite capable of saying 'no' to him," after asking for an early dismissal of the case.

"She doesn't say 'no'. That is the crucial difference in whether we are talking consent," he said.

"The absence of 'no' interprets she is not objecting to it."

Kemp attacked the credibility of the alleged victim, who took the stand this month to testify that she was paralysed with fear when Zuma entered the guest bedroom where she was sleeping and raped her on November 2.

Call to scrap cop evidence

He also argued that the onus was not on Zuma to seek her explicit consent, saying: "Many women regard it as unromantic to be asked explicitly if they want to have intercourse."

The judge will hear further argument on Wednesday on the application for an early dismissal.

The defence also is asking the court to scrap evidence led by a policeman that stated Zuma lied about where the alleged rape took place.

- AFP