/ 9 February 2006

Judging Jacob Zuma

Judge Phineas Mojapelo may preside over the rape trial of Jacob Zuma next week, but the final announcement will only be made on Friday.

An official in the Johannesburg High Court registrar’s office said on Thursday that Mojapelo would preside over the trial, but an official in Mojapelo’s chambers said he could not confirm this.

The judges in forthcoming trials would be placed on court notice boards on Friday, he said.

Zuma will go on trial on a charge of raping a family friend at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. He has made public statements denying the accusation.

Media applications for a place in the public gallery are being processed this week for the first of the two trials that Zuma will have to defend himself in this year.

In June he goes on trial in Durban for corruption relating to the guilty verdict of Schabir Shaik for corruption and fraud, which Shaik is appealing.

The trials are expected to generate a vast amount of interest, with them impacting on Zuma’s running for the presidency.

The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust on Wednesday urged his supporters to gather en masse at the court in his support.

In his last court appearance in Johannesburg, special arrangements were made for him to appear ahead of normal proceedings, with the media barred by the police.

At an application in Durban this week to have seized documents returned, media access to the court was restricted by Zuma’s security personnel.

After a lawyer acting on behalf of one of the reporters contacted the judge, they were called into chambers.

The matter was moved to a larger court and the access permits being issued were dispensed with. – Sapa