Zuma: Hello big girl

2006-04-04 13:25

Johannesburg - Old friendships and family ties were laid bare in Jacob Zuma's Johannesburg High Court rape trial on Tuesday.

Zuma chose to sit down for his second day of testimony and seemed relaxed as State prosecutor Charin de Beer examined his relationship with his rape accuser and her father.

He denied that he and her father, whom he knew from the 1950s, were family friends, instead describing their relationship as one of "comradely affection".

Speaking in isiZulu, the former deputy president told the court his attorney, Michael Hulley, may have described her and her family as close friends in a radio interview, but he did not say this himself.

Throughout her testimony, the woman who alleges he raped her on November 2 last year, called him malume - the word for uncle - and said she regarded him as a close family friend.

Zuma testified that the term was a common form of address used by exile children.

"I regarded her as a comrade's child."

Zuma received 'signals' from accuser

The "hello, big girl", he greeted her with when she arrived at his house on the night of the alleged rape was an address he had used for "many others".

He agreed there was a difference in their positions in society but denied that there had been a large power imbalance between them, with her employed as a contract wellness co-ordinator, while he was the deputy president.

Acknowledging that he'd told the woman stories about her father, who died in a car accident, Zuma told the court he had believed she wanted the information for a book she was writing.

He has testified that he had received signals from the woman which led him to believe she wanted something more when she visited him that night, in the wake of a family crisis.

These included her arrival at his house in a skirt that showed her legs.

He told the court he had unprotected sex with her, even though she was HIV-positive, because he "knew the risk was very minimal" from knowledge he gained while serving on the Aids Council.

- SAPA