Rights groups dismayed by politician's rape acquittal

JOHANNESBURG, May 8, 2006, 2006 (IPS/GIN via COMTEX) -- Activists vowed Monday not to let the acquittal of former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma on rape charges undermine the fight against sexual violence.

"Tomorrow if you go to the Johannesburg court, you'll get six other women waiting for their rape cases to be heard," Dawn Cavanagh of the Johannesburg-based Gender AIDS Forum, a non-governmental organization, told IPS in front of the city's High Court.

"So, the struggle continues."

The judge in the case, Willem van der Merwe, expressed similar sentiments -- as did members of the tripartite alliance, made up of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

According to People Opposing Women Abuse, another civic group based in South Africa's commercial center, a woman is raped in the country every 26 seconds. But Catherine Nyakato of the One-in-Nine Campaign says just one out of every nine rape victims reports the attack.

"Some do not report rape due to fear, others due to lack of awareness -- and some due to lack of knowledge about access to services like police procedures and treatments in the hospital," she told IPS.

The experience of Zuma's accuser may do little to alleviate rape victims' fears, however; reports indicate that the plaintiff was forced to endure heckling and insults as she made her way into and out of court -- and having her reputation destroyed.

Similarly, the conviction rate for rape cases is far from encouraging.

"The conviction rate is 7 percent," says Cavanagh. "There is a problem with our judicial system. This needs to change."

The calls for continued vigor in the fight against rape occurred amidst controversy about the extent to which Zuma's trial examined the previous sexual history of the complainant: a 31-year-old AIDS activist who is herself HIV-positive, and a family friend of Zuma. The defense presented several witnesses who claimed that the accuser, who cannot be named under South African law, had made false allegations of rape against them.

In a six-hour judgment broadcast in its entirety on radio and television, van der Merwe said he had allowed this testimony because it showed a pattern of behavior on the part of the complainant that had a bearing on her charge against Zuma.

The African Christian Democratic Party was later reported as saying that the conditions under which a rape victim's history could be admitted into evidence should be revisited.

Ayesha Kajee, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, a Johannesburg-based think tank, also indicated that had the sexual offenses bill tabled in parliament just last week already been passed, the complainant's sexual history would have been off-limits.

Saying that the state had not proven the rape allegation beyond a reasonable doubt, van der Merwe found that consensual sex had taken place between Zuma and the complainant, as claimed by the former deputy president.

But even though he was exonerated, Zuma did not escape Monday's verdict unscathed. Van der Merwe rapped him over the knuckles for having unprotected sex with his accuser -- and for his headline-grabbing statement that he had showered after the intercourse to minimize his risk of contracting HIV.

The comment earned him instant condemnation from AIDS campaigners in South Africa, who saw the statement as a setback to efforts at containing the pandemic -- something a country with the largest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world, upwards of 5 million, can ill afford.

In an irony lost on few, Zuma previously served as chair of the South African National AIDS Council, and patron of the Moral Regeneration Movement.

A handful of women's rights campaigners was present outside the court Monday ahead of the verdict, carrying placards with various slogans, one of which read "This skirt is not an invitation." (Zuma had testified earlier that the day of the alleged rape, on Nov. 2 last year, marked the first instance in which he had seen his accuser wearing a skirt -- something he interpreted as an invitation. The incident took place at the former deputy's home in the up-market suburb of Forest Town in Johannesburg.)

However, the group was dwarfed alongside Zuma's supporters. Upwards of 2,000 were estimated to have gathered outside the court under the watchful eye of police.

Many wore T-shirts emblazoned with the former deputy's face, and the phrase "All shall be equal before the law." Chanting and dancing throughout the course of the day, the supporters broke into jubilation when the verdict became known.

"I feel very happy today. The judge has satisfied me," a Zuma supporter, Norman Ndlovu, told IPS immediately after the judgment.

But, he added, "I'm not happy with the law in this country. The complainant is being protected, and her name has even been concealed from the public. Zuma doesn't enjoy such rights.

"We also hear that she has been smuggled out of the country. What sort of law is this?"

Since the weekend, local papers have been reporting that the accuser is to be resettled abroad for her own safety.

After leaving court, Zuma traveled to a nearby square to address his followers, taking the opportunity to accuse the media of convicting him in the court of public opinion.

Kajee says she was not surprised by the judge's ruling.

"It's expected, in light of the evidence that was given in court. ...The trial also sends a strong message that the judiciary and the media in South Africa are free; that's the message that would resonate around the African continent," she noted, referring to the abuse of the judiciary and media repression that have become de rigueur in much of Africa.

The strength of these two institutions is about to be put to an even greater test, however -- again, one involving Zuma.

In July, the former deputy will go on trial for corruption: he faces charges on two counts, one relating to claims that he solicited a bribe from French weapons manufacturer Thales to protect it during a probe into South Africa's $5 billion arms deal.

The case stems from the guilty verdict that was handed down to Zuma's financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, last year in another graft trial. These proceedings saw Shaik convicted on a number of charges that included assisting Zuma to obtain the bribe from Thales. The presiding judge ruled that Shaik's relationship with Zuma was "generally corrupt."

The verdict led President Thabo Mbeki to dismiss Zuma in June 2005, although the former deputy retained his senior post in the ANC. Zuma has indicated that his upcoming corruption trial is a bid by his political enemies to discredit him so he does not win the presidency. Many of his supporters also viewed the rape trial as part of this alleged plot.

The damage done to the former deputy president's reputation by his statements about AIDS, and the dismal prospect of the upcoming graft trial, have raised questions about whether the time has come to pen a political obituary for Zuma -- until recently seen as the leader in the race to succeed Mbeki in 2009.

But, Kajee says it is too early to write off Zuma as a political force.

"He commands a large grass-roots following. The loyalty is immense," she noted of the former deputy, who rose to prominence in the ANC during the struggle against apartheid.

As Monday's events outside the court demonstrated, that is no exaggeration.

Copyright (c) 2006 IPS-Inter Press Service. All Rights Reserved.

(C) 2006 Inter Press Service. All Rights Reserved