Former deputy president Jacob Zuma described to the Johannesburg High Court in detail on Monday how he had sex with the woman who has accused him of rape. He went to her bedroom on the night of November 2 last year after finishing work, because she wanted to tell him something, Zuma testified.
Reasons given by Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi for Matatiele’s incorporation into the Eastern Cape from KwaZulu-Natal were wrong, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday. ”The minister’s facts are wrong geographically, ethnically, culturally … And his wrong facts are compounded by the fact that nobody has spoken to these people,” said lawyer Alastair Dickson.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma could take the stand in his rape trial on Monday after the Johannesburg High Court turned down an application to have the case discharged on Wednesday. Asked if his client would take the stand when the trial resumed, Zuma’s lawyer Kemp J Kemp would not give a direct answer.
The Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday denied former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s application to be discharged on a rape count. Judge Willem van der Merwe said he could not agree that evidence led by the state was of such a poor quality that it could not be accepted. ”The accused is not entitled to his discharge,” he said.
The Johannesburg High Court has turned down an application by three non-governmental organisations to appear as amici curiae (friends of the court) in the rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma. The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre had wanted to present evidence.
Three non-governmental organisations have applied to give expert evidence in the Jacob Zuma rape trial in the Johannesburg High Court. This would include the reasons, known by people working with rape survivors, why they often did not take the first opportunity to make known the assault and to seek help, Peter Hodes SC told the court on Monday.
The state will use a one-week adjournment to mull over developments in axed deputy president Jacob Zuma’s rape trial and decide how to proceed. Outside the court, Zuma’s supporters huddled together on Thursday as this was explained to them through a megaphone.
Jacob Zuma’s lawyer could ask that testimony by a top Gauteng police detective be declared inadmissible after he admitted to not following basic police procedure, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday.
Jacob Zuma’s first statement to police during the rape probe against him made no mention of consensual sex he has claimed he had with his accuser, the court heard on Tuesday. A police officer also testified he forgot to add to his statement Zuma’s reply when asked to point out the crime scene.
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. Meanwhile, Zuma says he will emerge from his trial on rape charges with his popularity intact.