If the rape claims against Jacob Zuma turn out to be ”serious allegations” and go to court, the party will take action, African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Monday.
”If the matter is confirmed as a serious allegation and the matter goes to court, the ANC will take action,” Motlanthe told the media after a three-day national executive committee meeting.
The party believes the judicial process is the ”appropriate” mechanism to determine the matter, but will also watch developments closely during the investigation, he said.
He added: ”The allegations against the deputy president are regarded very seriously by the ANC.”
In turn, if they come to court, the party expects Zuma to be guided by his political conscience.
He said it is important for the party’s members to understand that ”allegations remain allegations until it is proven”.
The matter had not been on the agenda at the NEC meeting, held to thrash out perceived divisions within the party and between Zuma and its president, Thabo Mbeki, but Zuma had asked if he may address the NEC on it.
He informed the NEC that allegations of rape had been made against him, but he had issued a denial through his lawyer Michael Hulley.
Media reports — on the same weekend that Zuma appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court to receive his formal indictment on corruption charges — said that a family friend of Zuma’s had laid a complaint of rape against him. Police will not comment on the matter. Beeld reported on Saturday the case number was 312/11/2005, lodged at the Hillbrow police station.
Reacting to further reports that KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Zweli Mkhize was brokering a settlement between Zuma and the complainant’s mother, Motlanthe said that Mkhize was expected to issue a statement saying that Zuma had only arranged her transport to Johannesburg. He had done this in the context of being a good friend of the family, whom he had known since his exile in Zimbabwe.
Rape charges
The woman reportedly accusing Zuma of rape has vowed not to drop the charges, The Mercury website reported on Monday.
It quoted her as saying she was ”fine and will not drop the rape charges”.
She said she initially feared that it would be her alone against the whole country after her complaint made newspaper headlines.
The complainant broke her silence on Sunday after going to ground for a week as the storm raged around Zuma and the rape allegation.
Speaking to The Mercury by telephone, the complainant declined to divulge her whereabouts.
She is believed to be under police protection or hiding in a neighbouring state until the police decide whether to charge Zuma.
Last week, she denied the rape allegation in an interview with The Sunday Independent newspaper.
Two days later, The Star established that a complaint had been lodged, with further confirmation at the weekend when Beeld reported the case number.
On Sunday, the complainant said she had denied the allegation because she had not expected the matter to be made public through the media.
She was afraid she would be flooded with requests for more details of the rape.
”But I am stronger now because I have heard that people are behind me,” she told The Mercury.
Conspiracy
Motlanthe also said on Monday that the NEC found there was no conspiracy within its own ranks against Zuma, and that there were no divisions in the party.
”We have accepted that sometimes there will be members aggrieved at how they were treated, but that does not mean that there was a conspiracy against them,” he said.
It understands how Zuma reached the conclusion regarding what he thought was a political conspiracy and said that as a leader of the ANC he may have been subjected to ”hostile forces opposed to the national democratic revolution”.
Zuma had used the ”tools of his trade” as the party intelligence head during apartheid to establish whether there was a conspiracy against him. He did not use state resources to do so and has not revealed the names of the people he thought were conspiring against him.
The NEC also said that none of its members was involved in sending hoax e-mails.
”The NEC is convinced that none of its members is involved in these smear campaigns.”
The origins of these e-mails, reportedly about the presidential succession battle in the party, will be investigated by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
However, the NEC felt it did not do enough to ”pronounce themselves more firmly” on issues surrounding Zuma’s successful complaint to the public protector that the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) and the National Prosecuting Authority had violated his human rights.
”To the extent that failure to do so has inadvertently strengthened the perception of a ‘political conspiracy, the NEC expresses its sincere regret.”
During an investigation into the affairs of Zuma’s financial adviser Schabir Shaik, a bidder in the controversial arms deal, previous NDPP boss Bulelani Ngcuka said there had been ”prima facie” evidence against Zuma, but he would not press charges.
Shaik is now appealing a corruption and fraud conviction. Zuma’s corruption charges stem from Shaik’s trial.
Zuma was ”relieved” of his job as deputy president in June.
The overwhelming support for Zuma heightened when a T-shirt bearing the face of President Thabo Mbeki was burnt at one of Zuma’s court appearances.
The party resolved to be more active in explaining its approach to the current situation to both the membership and society at large, and will reassert discipline within its ranks to ensure compliance with its decisions.