Zuma's discharge application denied

The Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday denied former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s application to be discharged on a rape count. Judge Willem van der Merwe said he could not agree that evidence led by the state was of such a poor quality that it could not be accepted.

“The accused is not entitled to his discharge,” he said.

Zuma’s defence counsel, Kemp J Kemp, had also asked the court to rule the evidence of two police officers inadmissible, arguing that they did not follow basic police procedure.

Van der Merwe ruled he would decide on the admissibility of their evidence at the end of the trial.

Zuma is accused of raping a close family friend at his Johannesburg home on November 2 last year. He claims he had consensual sex with the woman.

The court postponed the trial to Monday after turning down the application for a discharge. Kemp said certain witnesses still needed to be consulted and asked for the court’s indulgence.

Earlier in the day, Kemp told the court that the medical report of Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser contained no proof of rape.

“She reported the incident in terms which clearly did not describe it as rape,” Kemp submitted in final argument during his application for his client’s discharge. Her account of the alleged rape was filled with inconsistencies, he argued.

Kemp did not accept trauma specialist Merle Friedman’s version that the woman did not resist because she froze. He also told the court that the flurry of phone calls between people central to the case afterwards meant nothing.

There was nothing wrong with Zuma’s aide Ranjeni Munusamy and KwaZulu-Natal finance provincial minister Zweli Mkhize trying to get her to drop charges as long as they did nothing improper, and there was no suggestion that they had.

Kemp contended that even though Zuma spoke to the complainant and to her mother after what the former deputy president believed was consensual sex, at no time did he apologise for rape.—Sapa