A South African judge yesterday acquitted former deputy president Jacob Zuma of raping an HIV-positive family friend, keeping alive the political hopes of a man once seen as the country's next president.
"I find that consensual sex took place between the complainant and the accused," Judge Willem van der Merwe told a packed Johannesburg High Court in a verdict that was broadcast live on national television.
Zuma's rape trial has fanned tensions in the ruling African National Congress (ANC), where he remains a widely popular figure and was until recently seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
More than 2,000 pro-Zuma supporters staged a noisy demonstration outside the Johannesburg courthouse, the latest in a series of protests attesting to the grassroots popularity of a man many affectionately dub "JZ."
The 64-year-old anti-apartheid veteran had pleaded not guilty to raping his accuser at his Johannesburg home last November. But his lawyers said he did have consensual sex with the woman, a 31-year-old AIDS activist.
Conviction for rape could have brought a jail term of up to 15 years.
Zuma was hit with the rape case following a separate graft scandal last year which prompted Mbeki to sack him as the country's second-highest official.
He is due to go on trial in July on the corruption charges, which he has denied and described as part of a shadowy political plot by his enemies in the ANC to end his presidential hopes.
Zuma's supporters say the allegations are part of a political plot to destroy any hope of him succeeding Mbeki.
The rape trial, with testimony that raised questions about Zuma's understanding of AIDS and his attitude toward women, and an unrelated corruption case that goes to trial later this year may have severely tainted his reputation. But Zuma, who during apartheid was imprisoned on Robben Island and then from exile headed the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), remains deputy president of the ANC and enjoys wide popularity in the rank and file of the party.
Zuma supporters, dancing and singing protest songs and hymns praising "Zuma, my president," gathered outside the Johannesburg High Court, where tight security included a police helicopter hovering overhead.
Anti-rape activists built a "wall of shame," adorned with posters against sexual violence and a kanga -- the traditional African wrap. Zuma alleged that the woman was sending him a sexual invitation by wearing a flimsy kanga when she said goodnight to him.
"This kanga is not an invitation [to sex]," read the poster.
In the trial, Zuma has testified that the woman, whom he knew since she was a small child, had encouraged him with cellphone messages and flirtatious behavior and did not resist his advances in the bedroom.
The woman has testified that she "froze" when faced with advances from the man she said she regarded as a father, and said she would never have agreed to having sex without a condom.
As a former head of the South African National AIDS Council, Zuma shocked many by arguing against scientific evidence that there was little danger of him contracting HIV from unprotected sex, and that his taking a shower after intercourse with the woman reduced the risk of transmission.
Doctors and health activists fear Zuma's testimony could undermine years of prevention campaigns against a virus that has infected up to 6 million South Africans.
Women's groups said the case has increased awareness of rape in South Africa, where the reported rape rate is 114 cases per 100,00 people, compared to a rate of 32 per 100,000 in the US.
But television footage of the alleged victim being heckled as she arrived in court and the aggressive cross-examination of her sexual history has prompted concern that the trial will deter women from reporting rape crimes.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not