The first week of Jacob Zuma’s trial ended on a dramatic note with the court hearing he had unprotected sex with his HIV-positive rape accuser and she was treated in a mental institution.
In a week beginning with Zuma pleading not guilty to raping her, a hushed gallery of hand-picked family members and journalists listened to the woman being grilled on what happened on November 2 last year and on her past sexual relations.
On Friday, Zuma’s lawyer Kemp J Kemp told the Johannesburg High Court his client’s version of events. He said Zuma will testify he had consensual sex with her in his bedroom at his Johannesburg home.
After they had a conversation in his study, she told Zuma that when he was finished working, he should go to her in the guest bedroom as she still wanted to speak to him.
Zuma says he went to her room and she was asleep. He woke her up and said he was ready to talk. He suggested she go to his bedroom on the first floor.
He says she went to his room, and later the woman, who was dressed in a kanga (wrap), said she was cold. She got under a duvet and started talking to him.
She then said a massage ”would be nice”. While massaging her with baby oil, she loosened her kanga. He got into bed with her and it transpired that neither had a condom, Kemp said.
They lay in the bed kissing and touching, and had intercourse that lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. Kemp said Zuma did ask the woman if he should ejaculate inside her, but she did not answer. Afterwards he had a shower.
Wearing a tailored black jacket, a white shirt and jeans, the woman remained standing in the witness box while this version was put to her. She disagreed with most of what Kemp said.
”The events happened the way I said they happened,” she said.
Saying no
On Monday, the woman testified she had said no to Zuma three times before the alleged rape occurred. She said the incident happened in the guest bedroom — not Zuma’s bedroom.
Kemp said: ”He says there was no point where you said no, and he said there was no suggestion of him restricting or holding your hands in any way.”
The woman replied: ”Again I will say that it happened the way I said.”
Kemp continued: ”He says that at no stage did you say no to him and as far as he is concerned, what happened with your consent.”
The woman just shook her head.
Kemp said Zuma asked her during the intercourse whether she was ”fine” and she indicated that she was. ”That’s not true,” she said.
The lawyer also said that when Zuma received the news of the rape charge, he was ”quite astounded by it and he immediately suspected that there was some political intrigue”.
The woman denied that anyone had put her up to it.
Mental institution
Later, her mother gave evidence and in response to a question from Jerome Brauns, another of Zuma’s lawyers, related how her daughter had been treated in a mental institution in Zimbabwe.
She said after her father’s death, her daughter had hallucinations and nightmares.
Her mother said she had pains ”in her belly button” and she started wetting her bed, which she had outgrown before she had turned 18 months.
She was taken to a hospital, which found nothing wrong with her stomach, and she was given tablets, which made her worse. ”It made the nightmares and hallucinations worse. She became better after seeing the psychologist [in Zimbabwe],” her mother said.
She said as far as she knew the woman had outgrown the hallucinations and nightmares, but conceded she may still be visiting a psychologist.
Her mother then said: ”According to me she had experienced many difficulties. Raped at the age of five, [and] at the age of 13, having your father die in a tragic accident. Seeing your comrades die, your uncles die …”
She choked up and spoke softly as she related the difficulties her daughter had faced over the years while trying to study.
When she found out she was HIV-positive, her mother said the medication made her ”a zombie” and she had to leave university.
”Actually I also think I need a psychologist now and then, but I have been resisting. We were all supposed to undergo psychological counselling when we came back from exile,” she said.
She was asked repeatedly about a phone call to Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils, made from her cellphone while she and her daughter were under witness protection, but could not remember it.
Meeting
She described a meeting she had with Zuma on November 13 at his house, the day the story broke in newspapers. The meeting was organised by KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Zweli Mkhize.
She described Zuma as having appeared sombre, disappointed and very sad.
She asked him why he had raped her daughter and she said his answer was not clear. ”Primarily he said he was sorry and he apologised.”
The two discussed her schooling and a fence to be built around the mother’s property.
”In township lingo … a person would say, ‘I will hit you and pay the fine afterwards.’ And to me this fence money was not equal to the abuse on me or my child,” she said.
The complainant testified earlier this week that Zuma had told her he would help find funding for her tuition.
Brauns also asked her how she would have reacted if Zuma and her daughter were having an affair. She said she would have been surprised because Zuma was elderly and married.
She replied that if the two loved each other, she would ”not force them apart”.
Referring to an SMS sent by the complainant saying the ”mothers” must not know about the alleged rape, the woman testified it was normal for her daughter to take into account her age and blood pressure when giving her bad news. ”She would have told me at the appropriate time.”
Towards the end of the complainant’s cross-examination, which ended on Friday, Kemp told her charging Zuma with rape would be ”sweet music” to the ears of the anti-Zuma camp.
He also said this would make people want to read her planned autobiography.
She denied this, saying she had decided a while ago the book would end on her birthday in July 1995.
The trial continues on Monday.
Confident
Meanwhile, Zuma says he will emerge from his trial on rape charges with his popularity intact, Reuters reported on Friday. Its website said he hinted that he still regards himself as a candidate for the country’s top job.
Zuma, speaking in an interview with Reuters, said his widespread support in the ruling African National Congress represents a backlash against the ”abuse of authority” by some parts of the government now led by President Thabo Mbeki.
”I’m not worried first what happens to me. I am worried what happens to the country, what happens to the system,” Zuma said at his Johannesburg home. ”I think I have a duty to ensure that this country works properly, the laws are properly done and there is no abuse of authority or power.”
The rape case against Zuma followed corruption charges that were laid against him last year following a scandal that saw Mbeki fire him as deputy president, a move that many analysts said had all but ended his hopes of succeeding Mbeki as the ANC’s presidential choice in 2009.
Zuma has denied the graft charges.
While declining to say on record whether he still sees himself as a candidate for president, Zuma told Reuters that he believes both cases against him are politically motivated and that he will survive with his popularity — and his leadership role — intact.
”I see myself as part of the ANC leadership,” he said, adding that he is not worried that his widespread support among the ANC rank and file has been damaged.
”Not at all. I think it is almost five years now [that] attempts have been made to do so. It has been a long time. Down throughout the state organs by investigating me. Down throughout the media — a very hostile media. And by some politicians. I don’t think it has worked,” Zuma said.
”Fortunately the South African public is very advanced and they are able to see through [this].” — Sapa