Jacob Zuma rape trial

South African politician Jacob Zuma – later the President of South Africa – was charged with rape on 6 December 2005. He was prosecuted in the Johannesburg High Court between March and May 2006. On 8 May, the Court dismissed the charges, agreeing with Zuma that the sex act in question had been consensual. During the trial, Zuma admitted to having unprotected sex with his accuser, whom he knew to be HIV-positive, but memorably claimed that he took a shower afterwards to reduce his risk of contracting HIV.

Background

To protect the identity of Zuma's accuser, Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo,{{Cite web |last=Grant-Marshall |first=Sue |date=2017-10-03 |title=Khwezi book reveals how rape accuser was violated by the law |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/life/books/2017-10-03-book-review-khwezi-book-reveals-how-rape-accuser-was-violated-by-the-law/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} she was known to the public by the pseudonym Khwezi.{{Cite web |last=Pather |first=Raeesa |date=2016-08-10 |title=The kanga, womanhood and how Zuma's 2006 rape trial changed the meaning of the fabric |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2016-08-10-the-khanga-womanhood-and-how-zumas-2006-rape-trial-changed-its-meaning/ |access-date=2022-01-11 |website=Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Her father, Judson Kuzwayo, was, like Zuma, a member of the African National Congress (ANC) during the struggle against apartheid, and had spent a decade imprisoned alongside Zuma on Robben Island before his death in 1985.{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=2016-10-10 |title='Khwezi', the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape, dies |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/10/khwezi-woman-accused-jacob-zuma-south-african-president-aids-activist-fezekile-ntsukela-kuzwayo |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} Zuma was accused of raping her at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg on 2 November 2005.{{Cite web |date=2006-03-21 |title=Timeline of the Jacob Zuma rape trial |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2006-03-21-timeline-of-the-jacob-zuma-rape-trial/ |access-date=2022-01-11 |website=Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} By then, Khwezi was a 31-year-old HIV/AIDS activist.

On the morning of 6 December 2005, Zuma was formally charged with rape, although the media had already reported on the allegations. He strongly denied the accusation.{{Cite web |date=2005-12-06 |title=S Africa's Zuma charged with rape |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/12/6/s-africas-zuma-charged-with-rape |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}} At that time, Zuma was ANC Deputy President and was engaged in a fierce political battle against President Thabo Mbeki, who had fired him as national deputy president in June that year. A criminal conviction would be a serious obstacle to his political ambitions – observers believed he intended to stand for the ANC presidency at the party's 52nd National Conference in 2007 and then for the national presidency in the 2009 presidential elections.

Trial

The trial began on 6 March 2006 in the Johannesburg High Court. Judge Bernard Ngoepe, initially assigned to the case, recused himself due to his involvement in the ongoing (but separate) corruption charges against Zuma; Judge Willem van der Merwe presided instead. Zuma pleaded not guilty to the charge, claiming that he and Khwezi had had consensual sex.

In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, a person who has laid a rape charge may not be questioned on their sexual history, unless special permission is granted by a judge. In this case, such permission was granted, and Khwezi was subjected to what the Guardian called "aggressive cross-examination".{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2006-05-08 |title=Jacob Zuma cleared of rape |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/08/aids.southafrica |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{cite news |date=6 March 2007 |title=Zuma's rape accuser questioned |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4781440.stm |url-status=live |access-date=20 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111191133/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4781440.stm |archive-date=11 January 2009}}{{cite news |date=3 April 2006 |title=S. African denies rape allegation at trial |work=Boston Globe |url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/04/03/s_african_denies_rape_allegation_at_trial/ |url-status=dead |access-date=20 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313152258/http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/04/03/s_african_denies_rape_allegation_at_trial/ |archive-date=13 March 2007}} Zuma's defence argued that Khwezi had a history of making false rape allegations, and questioned her in detail about her childhood sexual experiences: she said that she had been raped thrice as a child in Lusaka, Zambia, where the ANC-in-exile had been based. The defence also maintained that the sex had been consensual. Testifying in Zulu, Zuma confirmed that he viewed Khwezi as "a comrade's child", and suggested that she had sent him sexual signals including by her mode of dress (she had worn a kanga, and no underwear, on the night in question). The prosecution, on several occasions, produced expert psychologist witnesses to dispute this narrative, and to argue that Khwezi's lack of physical resistance during the act had been the result of trauma.File:Zuma-court-crowd.jpg.]]Another controversial element of Zuma's testimony was his admission that he had not worn a condom while having sex with Khwezi, despite knowing that she was HIV-positive and despite having been, as deputy president, the head of the National AIDS Council and Moral Regeneration Campaign. He told the court that he had taken a shower after the act, incorrectly claiming that doing so reduced the risk of HIV transmission.{{cite news |date=5 April 2006 |title=SA's Zuma showered to avoid HIV |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4879822.stm |url-status=live |access-date=20 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225220255/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4879822.stm |archive-date=25 December 2007}} The popular South African comic strip Madam & Eve and well known political cartoonist Zapiro repeatedly lampooned Zuma for his testimony, and Zuma now always appears under a showerhead in Zapiro cartoons.{{Cite web |last=Grootes |first=Stephen |date=2011-07-22 |title=SA's most famous showerhead sparks more debate |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-07-22-the-sas-most-famous-showerhead-sparks-more-debate/ |access-date=2022-01-11 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}

Political response

Although there were reports that Zuma's legal difficulties were causing strife within the ANC-led Tripartite Alliance,{{cite web |last=Tabane |first=Rapule |date=21 April 2006 |title=SACP divided on Zuma |url=http://mg.co.za/article/2006-04-21-sacp-divided-on-zuma |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205183536/http://mg.co.za/article/2006-04-21-sacp-divided-on-zuma |archive-date=5 February 2015 |access-date=5 February 2015 |website=Mail & Guardian}} he retained a large public support base. The ANC Women's League defended Zuma.{{Cite web |last=Horn |first=Jessica |date=2016-11-03 |title=Khwezi showed how to challenge rape culture – the rest is up to us |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/03/khwezi-showed-how-to-challenge-culture-fezekile-ntsukela-kuzwayo-fezeka-jacob-zuma |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} During the trial, his supporters – sometimes in their thousands – gathered outside the courthouse, sometimes clashing with smaller groups of anti-rape protesters.{{Cite news |last=Humphreys |first=Joe |date=2006-05-09 |title=Dramatic scenes as Zuma is cleared of rape |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dramatic-scenes-as-zuma-is-cleared-of-rape-1.1000443 |access-date=2022-01-11 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}{{cite news |date=13 February 2006 |title=Zuma rape case judge stands down |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4707464.stm |url-status=live |access-date=20 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112021906/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4707464.stm |archive-date=12 January 2009}} They were addressed among others by Fikile Mbalula of the ANC Youth League and Buti Manamela of the South African Communist Party Youth League,{{cite web |last=Musgrave |first=Amy |date=13 February 2006 |title=Zuma judge recuses himself from trial |url=http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=264095&area=/zuma_report/zuma_news/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314050830/http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=%2Fzuma_report%2Fzuma_news%2F&articleid=264095 |archive-date=14 March 2006 |access-date=20 December 2007 |website=Mail & Guardian}} and Zuma was fond of joining the crowd outside to sing "Umshini wami" with them. Zuma supporters were seen carrying posters questioning Khwezi's integrity (with such slogans as "How much did they pay you, nondindwa [bitch]?" and "Burn this bitch"), burning photos of her, and on one occasion throwing stones at a woman that they mistook for her.{{cite web |date=14 February 2006 |title=Accuser insulted as Zuma hailed at court |url=http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060214102144364C522654 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060225010841/http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060214102144364C522654 |archive-date=25 February 2006 |access-date=20 December 2007 |work=Independent Online}}

Outcome

On 8 May 2006, the court acquitted Zuma of rape,{{Cite news |last=Humphreys |first=Joe |date=2006-05-09 |title=Dramatic scenes as Zuma is cleared of rape |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dramatic-scenes-as-zuma-is-cleared-of-rape-1.1000443 |access-date=2022-01-11 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}} although Judge van der Merwe censured Zuma for having had unprotected sex with Khwezi. Part of the judgment read:

It is totally unacceptable that a man should have unprotected sex with any person other than his regular partner and definitely not with a person who to his knowledge is HIV positive. I do not even want to comment on the effect of a shower after having had unprotected sex... [However] it is clear that the probabilities show that the complainant's evidence cannot be accepted. She is a strong person well in control of herself knowing what she wants. She is definitely not that meek, mild and submissive person she was made out to be. On the evidence as a whole it is clear that the accused's version should be believed and accepted. The accused's evidence was also clear and convincing in spite of media efforts to discredit him.{{cite web |date=8 May 2006 |title=The State Versus Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma |url=http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPHC/2006/45.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095329/http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPHC/2006/45.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |publisher=High Court of South Africa (Witwatersrand Local Division)}}

Aftermath

On 3 July 2007, Khwezi was granted asylum in the Netherlands,{{cite news|url=http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2007/7/3/030707_asiel_kuzwayo.html |title=Asiel voor aanklaagster Zuma|trans-title=Asylum for Zuma prosecutrix|work=NOS|date=3 July 2007|language=Dutch|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912035238/http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2007/7/3/030707_asiel_kuzwayo.html|archivedate=12 September 2007}} having faced intimidation in South Africa during and after the trial.{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=2016-10-09 |title=#RememberKhwezi: Zuma's rape accuser dies, never having known freedom |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-10-09-rememberkhwezi-zumas-rape-accuser-dies-never-having-known-freedom/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}} She died in 2016.

In 2014, the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans' Association (MKMVA) and its chairman, Kebby Maphatsoe, claimed publicly that Khwezi had reported the alleged rape at the instigation of former cabinet minister Ronnie Kasrils. Kasrils sued for defamation and, in a settlement, the parties – MKMVA and Maphatsoe – agreed jointly to pay Kasrils R500,000 in damages and to publicly retract the statement.{{Cite news |last=Venter |first=Zelda |date=2016-08-23 |title=Kasrils and Kebby settle defamation case |work=Independent Online |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/kasrils-and-kebby-settle-defamation-case-2060192 |access-date=2022-09-29}}