SOUTH AFRICA: Defence lawyers ask for rape case against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma to be thrown out

Record ID: 459935

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Defence lawyers ask for rape case against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma to be thrown out
  • Date: 28th March 2006
  • Summary: (BN17) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, (MARCH 27, 2006), (REUTERS) ZUMA MOTORCADE ARRIVING AT THE COURT
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1GN3QSOR08M5JJ1CE59808IET
  • Story Text: The defence in the rape trial of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma asked a judge on Monday (March 27) to throw out the case on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to convict the popular politician.
    Zuma, once seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009, is accused of raping a 31-year-old family friend at his home late last year. He has admitted to having sex with the woman but has denied it was rape.
    Arguing on behalf of a motion to dismiss the case, Zuma lawyer Kemp J. Kemp told Judge Willem van der Merwe that state prosecutors had presented a paltry amount of evidence and testimony that "conflicts with other evidence".
    The motion in the Johannesburg High Court came after several weeks of sometimes graphic testimony in a case that threatens to end the career of Zuma, 63, one of South Africa's most charismatic public figures.
    The trial has attracted large numbers of Zuma supporters who have engaged in verbal sparring with smaller groups of women's rights supporters seeking to highlight South Africa's dismal record on prosecuting rapes.
    Women's groups say that only one in nine South African women who are raped actually report the crime, which is often dismissed as a private matter particularly when the assailant is known to the accuser.
    The rape trial is the first of two legal challenges faced by Zuma, who has also been accused of graft in a separate case. He also denied those charges, describing them as part of a vendetta by his enemies in the ruling African National Congress.
    The corruption case is scheduled to go to trial in July. A guilty verdict in either case could spell the end of his political career, although two acquittals could re-open the door to his presidential hopes.
    Arguments on the motion are scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
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