What next?
2006-05-09 11:32
Johannesburg - South Africa's former deputy
president Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape on Monday but
repercussions from the case - which sparked debate on Aids,
rape, the judiciary and the country's leaders - were likely to
continue far beyond the courtroom.
The rape trial and a separate graft case against Zuma opened
serious rifts within the ruling African National Congress in
which the man who had been expected to succeed President Thabo
Mbeki as president still enjoys strong grassroots support.
Analysts said the trials so rocked the ANC that, whatever
their outcome, they could impact the ANC's National Conference
in 2007 when a new party leader would be elected.
Here are some of the issues raised by the two cases:
Mbeki's decision to sack Zuma in June 2005 after he was
implicated in a high-profile graft trial in which his former
financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted, provoked outrage
among rank-and-file ANC members who alleged a political plot
within the party to deny him a shot at the presidency. Mbeki's
move was hailed by many South Africans, including the
opposition, as a bold step in the fight against corruption. The
trial on graft charges opens in July.
Zuma's supporters cried foul again when he was charged
last December with raping a 31-year-old HIV-positive family
friend at his Johannesburg home. The ramifications of the case
were underlined early when three judges declined to hear it,
including one who said he had been a comrade of Zuma's during
the anti-apartheid struggle, and another who cited kinship -
his sister had a child with the defendant.
The case fanned a fierce debate between anti-rape
campaigners and Zuma supporters. Both camps turned out in force
at the trial and there were clashes at hearings in the
Johannesburg High Court. But the rape case created much bigger
problems for Zuma and his support started to ebb away.
HIV/Aids activists denounced Zuma for testifying that he
did not use a condom when he had what he said was consensual sex
with a woman he knew was HIV-positive. In particular, Zuma's
testimony that he had a shower after sex to minimise his chances
of infection caused outrage among campaigners in the country
with the highest HIV/Aids caseload in the world. Even some of
his sympathisers began questioning his judgment and, by
implication, fitness for leadership.
The ordeal of the accuser, who broke down on the witness
stand as Zuma's defence battered her with questions about her
past sex life, prompted widespread calls for a review of rape
laws. South Africa is grappling with one of the highest
incidents of rape in the world, with statistics showing a
conviction rate of only 1 in 9.
Zuma conceded he had sex with the complainant but
maintained it was consensual. But his argument that under Zulu
culture a man could not walk away from a woman who was sexually
aroused drew hackles even from some of his fellow Zulu.