/ 26 April 2006

Zuma judgement to be broadcast

Primedia Broadcasting and e.tv have been granted permission to broadcast the judgement in the Jacob Zuma rape trial, Judge Willem van der Merwe said on Wednesday.

He had granted the request after speaking to a number of colleagues about the matter. He said if any other radio or television station wanted to broadcast the judgment, they should contact e.tv or Primedia to make sure there would be as little

disruption as possible.

Primedia includes 702 Talk Radio and CapeTalk.

The last stages of the trial begins on Wednesday with the prosecution and the defence presenting final argument to the Johannesburg High Court.

Zuma is alleged to have raped a 31-year-old HIV positive woman who considers herself a family friend at his Johannesburg home on November 2 last year.

He says that he had consensual sex with the woman, who is the daughter of a man he worked with to overthrow the apartheid state.

His defence focused on her alleged history of making false rape claims, backed by testimony from a number of ministers of religion.

The state relied on testimony from a trauma specialist to explain why she did not resist the alleged attack.

The case has generated a vast amount of interest and has in some quarters been called a conspiracy to remove the former deputy president from the running for the presidency. – Sapa