Publication: Sunday Times Issued: Date: 2005-11-20 Reporter: Dominic Mahlangu Reporter: Wisani wa ka Ngobeni Reporter: Dumisane Lubisi

Zuma Rape Case Turns on DNA

 

Publication 

Sunday Times

Date

2005-11-20

Reporter

 Dominic Mahlangu,
Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, Dumisane Lubisi

Web Link

www.sundaytimes.co.za

 

Police ask lab to do tests without delay so they can decide whether to demand blood from former deputy president

Police investigating a rape claim against former Deputy President Jacob Zuma have asked their forensic laboratory to prioritise the DNA testing of samples obtained from the alleged victim because they want to fast-track the case due to its “high-profile” nature.

The Sunday Times has established that DNA tests are being conducted on semen found on the alleged victim’s underwear and swabs later taken by a doctor.

If the lab finds DNA that does not belong to the woman, police will then have to decide whether to request DNA samples from Zuma himself.

“A decision will have to be made either to apply for a warrant of arrest so as to draw blood from Zuma or approach him and extract blood voluntarily. Either way, he will have to undergo a blood test,” a top policeman said.

National police spokesman Sally de Beer refused to comment yesterday, but the senior police officer, who asked not to be named, said the DNA tests were expected to be completed “within a week or two” due to the high-profile nature of the case.

The police forensic laboratory in Pretoria is facing a huge backlog of DNA tests, which can cause delays of up to 17 weeks.

The police are reluctant to approach Zuma before the results of the DNA tests are known, but it has been established that police have taken statements from key witnesses who were in the house when the alleged incident happened. The witnesses include Zuma family members. Among them were people in whom the woman confided after the alleged incident.

Friends and associates said the woman was traumatised.

Zuma, through his lawyer Michael Hulley, has repeatedly denied the rape allegation.

The woman’s family are close friends of Zuma’s from their days in exile and she is said to regard him as her uncle *1.

The revelation that a rape complaint had been made against South Africa’s former deputy president sparked a political storm this week, with his supporters saying the complaint was part of a smear campaign to prevent him becoming president of the ANC in 2007.

Zuma is already facing charges of fraud and corruption emanating from his relationship with convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, which have been at the forefront of Zuma’s political defence in recent months, both slammed the Sunday Times for publishing the story.

The ANC Women’s League, on the other hand, said it regarded “any violation of women’s rights as serious” *2 and called for the rape allegation to be properly investigated.

The matter was expected to be discussed at the ANC’s National Executive Committee meeting in Gauteng this weekend. The special NEC, scheduled long before the rape allegation came to light, was called to deal mainly with the falling out between Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki.

Yesterday party secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe tabled a report on the way out of the crisis for the party.

Reports this week said there were moves in the ANC to get Zuma to step down as party deputy president while the rape case was being investigated.

It has also since emerged that Zuma and KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Zweli Mkhize met the alleged victim’s mother last week. It remains unclear what the meeting was about.

The alleged victim, in her early 30s, remains in protective custody and the police are now tightly controlling her communication with the outside world.

Zuma has denied accusations that he sought to interfere with the police investigation.

The Sunday Times this week obtained further details of the police investigation. Computer records at the Hillbrow Police Station, where the case was registered, contain details of the alleged incident.

Among the details are:

•The alleged victim’s claim that the incident happened at Zuma’s home in Forest Town, Johannesburg, on November 2 at about 11.55pm;

•That the rape case was opened at the station on November 4 at 8.25pm;

•That the case number was 312/11/05; and

•A claim, under the heading “Method of Crime,” that “force was used” during the alleged incident.

The Sunday Times has also independently established that a doctor’s report, or “J88 form”, a standard document used in submitting rape complaints to the police, was completed the day after the alleged incident. The J88 would contain details of any injuries.

The investigating team includes top police from the South African Police Service’s national headquarters. It is being led by Superintendent Peter Linda, the head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Johannesburg. Linda was responsible for the investigation of serial schoolgirl rapist Fanwell Khumalo, who was convicted of 103 charges last year and sentenced to life imprisonment.

With acknowledgements to Dominic Mahlangu, Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, Dumisane Lubisi and Sunday Times.


*1  Sorry to say, but in the RSA this has not always been a restricting factor.

*2  Women make up 50% +/- 4% of the population. Corruption violates 100% of the population's rights.