South Africa was thrown into political turmoil on Tuesday when the former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, was charged with rape, a development which has all but eclipsed his chances of leading the country.
The man who once seemed destined to rule the continent's economic and political powerhouse could be jailed for life if convicted of raping a 31-year-old woman at his Johannesburg home last month.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is now riven by its worst convulsions since taking power in 1994, and institutions such as the prosecuting authority and the intelligence services have also been dragged into the affair.
The political turmoil has exposed rancor within the former liberation movement over the enrichment of a small group of individuals favored in the name of racial empowerment.
Zuma's allies were leading critics of the "waBenzi," a derogatory term for the newly flush class of people who drive Mercedes Benzs.
Commentators said the liberation hero, already reeling from a financial scandal, was finished as a political force and no longer a contender to succeed President Thabo Mbeki.
"He does not need to be convicted for his political reputation to be destroyed," said Aubrey Matshiqi, an independent analyst.
"All sorts of salacious details will emerge in the trial," he added.
At a brief hearing at a Johannesburg magistrate's court Zuma, 63, said he would suspend some of his activities within the ANC, but would retain his position as the party's deputy president until the case was resolved.
"I wish to state clearly that I am innocent of these charges," he said in a statement.
"I regard these allegations against me very seriously as I abhor any form of abuse against women," he added.
He was freed on the equivalent of US$3,200 bail and ordered to return in February for trial.
Mbeki sacked his deputy from the government in June after a court found that he had had a corrupt relationship with a convicted fraudster, for which Zuma was due to face a corruption trial next year.
Last month a local newspaper published a bombshell: an AIDS activist friend of the Zuma family had told police she was raped during an overnight stay at their Johannesburg home.
Anonymous media briefings from purported Zuma aides said sex did take place but that it was consensual -- itself a damaging admission since the married politician was a father figure to the alleged victim.
Tuesday's indictment read: "Whilst the complainant was sleeping, the accused came to her room and offered her a massage. After [she] declined the offer, he removed the duvet that covered her and proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her against her will and without her consent."
Supporters in the trade unions, the Communist Party and the ANC Youth League said the accused should be deemed innocent until proven guilty.
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