South Africa's most sensational rape trial headed into a second week with former deputy president Jacob Zuma emerging in a stronger position than his HIV-positive accuser after her sex life was laid bare.
But experts watching the trial, which could seal the political career of the leader who was sacked by South African President Thabo Mbeki last year, said it was too early to say in which way the ruling would go.
Zuma's lawyer Kemp J. Kemp said that the defense would try to prove that the victim had "alleged rape at least six or seven times" before the present case and that those allegations were unsubstantiated.
The 31-year-old has denied that she has a history of making false rape claims but has stated she was raped at 13 and once again at a religious school that resulted in an unwanted pregnancy.
The trial started with the woman testifying that she was violated by Zuma, a man she has known since the age of five.
Zuma's lawyers on Friday said he would testify later that she had not been raped in the guest bedroom of his Johannesburg home on the night of Nov. 2 but had come into his room and virtually seduced him.
Zuma pleaded not guilty to the rape charge on Monday and maintains he had consensual sex with her.
Delphine Serumaga, executive director of the People Opposing Women Abuse, who has been watching the case every day in court, conceded that the defense had made some gains in attacking the credibility of the victim but insisted that all was not lost.
"The first week makes her look bad. Her privacy has been invaded and they have built up a negative character, which is typical in rape cases," she said.
"We are hoping that we can open up his sex life," Serumaga said. "The state is going to call in 27 to 33 witnesses, so this time he will be under scrutiny."
Zuma appeared relaxed for the first time on Friday after his lawyers cross-examined the victim's mother and got her to testify that she had undergone psychiatric treatment as a child.
But her mother, whose husband was Zuma's comrade and a fellow prisoner during South Africa's liberation struggle, said this was because she had undergone child rape and suffered from hallucinations and nightmares.
Liesl Gerntholtz, executive director of Tshwaranang organization which deals with legal issues and gender-based violence, said it was "disgusting how Zuma's lawyers had brought up her childhood experiments at the age of five" when she went into a bathroom with a boy and a girl of similar age.
"I don't see how that is relevant and I am very sorry that neither the prosecution nor the judge did not object," Gerntholtz said.
She said she hoped there would be testimony by psychiatric experts later to shed light on how child abuse could have made the woman "struggle with sexual boundaries in life."
Zuma's supporters contend that he is the victim of a smear campaign by opponents trying to prevent him from succeeding Mbeki when his second and final term ends in 2009.
But the woman testified that "there was nobody or no force that influenced me to press charges."
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