Jacob Zuma’s lawyers will make an application on Monday to ask for certain evidence of two policemen to be declared inadmissible, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Thursday.
Zuma’s lawyer, Kemp J Kemp, said he would also make an application under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act for the discharge of the rape charge against Zuma.
This application is usually brought when the defence believes the state’s case is so weak that it is not necessary for it to present evidence to counter the state’s claims.
Last week the two policemen testified that Zuma had pointed out a guest room in his Johannesburg home when asked where he had allegedly raped a woman.
The 31-year-old woman alleges Zuma raped her in the guest bedroom on November 2 last year, while Zuma says they had consensual sex in his bedroom.
The case was adjourned to Monday after the prosecution rested its case.
Trial watchers have been abuzz with speculation on whether Zuma (63) will take the stand and whether his own sexual and mental history will be open to scrutiny in the same way that the complainant’s was.
The intensely personal evidence revealed to the court prompted South African Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen to call for a review of rape laws that allow survivors to be interrogated about their sexual history.
HIV/Aids has been once of the central threads of the trial, with both the woman and Zuma’s lawyer saying no condom was used.
In addition, almost every witness cross-examined by Kemp was asked if he or she were aware of a political plot to overthrow Zuma.
This is in line with Zuma’s own belief about why he, a potential candidate for the presidency as the ruling party’s deputy president, is on trial for rape and facing a corruption trial later this year.
Zuma has been arriving for the trial with sirens wailing and a protective cordon of at least eight besuited and armed bodyguards accompanying him into the court. The woman at the centre of the trial has not been present since she stepped out of the witness box. – Sapa