A young HIV-positive Aids activist who filed rape charges against former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma has been granted asylum in The Netherlands, a daily said on Tuesday.
The woman (32), who arrived in The Netherlands last year after losing a lawsuit against Zuma, has been granted a five-year residency permit, De Volkskrant said.
It said former Dutch foreign minister Ben Bot, who knew her father, a former activist in South Africa’s now-ruling African National Congress (ANC), had directly intervened in the matter.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
During the charged trial, the woman was threatened by thousands of Zuma’s supporters who gathered outside the court premises.
Zuma, who was sacked as President Thabo Mbeki’s deputy following the rape accusations, has a huge grassroots following. His supporters claim the rape allegations were a conspiracy to put a spoke in his presidential aspirations.
In May last year, Zuma was acquitted for rape but faced a stern rebuke from the judge for having unprotected sex and testifying during the trial that he showered after intercourse to avoid HIV.
The harsh words from the judge were in line with the criticism that Aids activists had directed at Zuma, who was one of the government’s leading officials on Aids policy in a country with one of world’s heaviest caseloads.
Zuma was a frontrunner to lead Africa’s strongest economy when Mbeki steps down in 2009. He has been reinstated as the ANC’s deputy president after his acquittal and is still a possible successor to the president. — Sapa-AFP