Publication: Sapa Issued: Johannesburg Date: 2005-11-20 Reporter: Sapa

Sunday World Ignores Zuma as Debate Rages across Other Front Pages

 

Publication 

Sapa
BC-ZUMA-MEDIA

Date

2005-11-20

Issued

Johannesburg

Reporter

 Sapa

 

The Sunday World newspaper has ignored the latest rape allegations against embattled African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma in favour of the chaos in the SA Football Association.

The Johnnic-owned newspaper largely writes for a black, middle-class audience.

The Sunday Sun also ignored the furore in its reports and editorial, but columnist Jon Qwelane *1 called the claim, first aired a week ago by the Sunday Times, a "deliberate smear".

"I have long suspected that the campaign against Zuma is a huge political conspiracy, and I am still of that view.

"There can be no doubt remaining now that those who do not want Zuma ascending to the presidency of the ANC, and therefore of the country, will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

"They include media hacks, who are ready pawns, willing to be used like putty by the power orchestrators," Qwelane wrote in the News24 tabloid targeting the working class.

In its Mzala column, the paper added that it "never rains, it thunders" for axed Deputy-President Jacob Zuma.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Zuma is next accused of being the brains behind the cash-in-transit heists in Jozi," Mzala opined. *2

News24's black broadsheet, City Press, editorialised that the Zuma saga might paralyse the ANC's local government election campaign.

The election is set down for March 1.

"The division may paralyse effective campaign efforts by ANC leaders in various areas, as the warring camps continue to be at each other's throats.

"Some leaders of the ANC may find it difficult to rally support in some parts of the country as they may be seen as belonging to one or the other camp," City Press wrote.

The newspaper's front page reported Zuma was fighting for his political life.

"A rape charge laid by a woman who was so close to him that she considered herself as his daughter has changed the political landscape for Zuma, his supporters and the balance of power in the ANC.

"Even his staunchest supporters, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), have gone to ground."

Rapport put it more strongly, reporting it was over ("klaarpraat") for Zuma.

In its editorial, the Afrikaans newspaper remarked that despite initial furious denials and charges of defamation about the rape allegations, no steps had yet been taken against newspapers making the claims.

"Zuma's loudest supporters are suddenly surprisingly quiet."

The paper also called on the police to end their "secretive silence" on the matter. "The public deserves to know the facts regarding the charge."

"Because of the strange handling of this matter up till now, a question mark will always hang over this issue in the public mind," Rapport commented.

The mass-market, Johnnic-owned Sunday Times, which broke the story, concentrated on the victim, saying "rape is about the survivor *2".

"The country has reeled this past week at the possibility that someone as prominent and widely respected *4 as former Deputy President Jacob Zuma might be guilty of rape -- that he may have abused the trust of a woman who claims to have regarded him as a father," it wrote.

"His closest friends have rallied to his support; his avowed enemies have bayed for his blood. The vast majority have teetered in confusion between the possibility that Zuma is the innocent victim of an unspeakably cruel political ploy, and horror at the thought that he is not.

"Some have raged at this newspaper for reporting the fact of the allegation -- a fact that, although never in doubt, has been reaffirmed in a further week of investigation. Zuma has denied the allegation in the strongest terms.

"The police, caught in the spotlight of the country's greatest post-apartheid political crisis, appear paralysed -- unable even to confirm or deny the existence of the charge."

The paper commended President Thabo Mbeki for his public silence amid the turmoil, saying virtually anything he said on the subject could be misconstrued to represent pressure of one sort or another on the criminal justice system.

"Whether Zuma is guilty or innocent, the reality is that this chapter of his life will define the rest of it. Once rape is alleged, there is no going back. He can only salvage the best there is to salvage from the debris.

"But we need to remember that this is about a woman who was so hurt and angry at something allegedly done to her that she mustered the courage to lay a complaint of rape against a man she has loved as a father and respected as a friend.

"A false complaint would be a crime equal to that which she alleges was perpetrated against her.

"As she rises each morning, she faces massive pressure to recant or to affirm the allegation. The ANC, like the government, must do nothing at all to try to influence her. Only she knows what her next best step will be. Rape, after all, is about *3 the survivor, not the perpetrator," the Sunday Times wrote.

The Sunday Independent, which last week carried denials of the alleged rape complaint, wrote in a rare front page editor's comment this week that the silence from the ANC on the matter "has been truly deafening."

"It is now a week since the allegation first emerged in public, and the only official response has been from the camp of the embattled former deputy president himself, who maintains no charge has been laid against him by the police, and therefore he has nothing to say, except that he did not rape anyone.

"The public deserves to know what is going on behind the scenes in this apparently sordid episode. The few facts in the public domain have been provided by newspapers, not the legion of government and party spokesmen employed in our supposedly transparent state to keep the public informed on matters of national importance.

"And the laying of an allegation of rape against the former deputy president of the country in the middle of his bitter power struggle with the president is such a matter," the paper added.

"Well, let us tell them what they should be saying. Given the power struggle Zuma wages, and the corruption charges he fights, the police's political masters should be telling us exactly where the investigation into the rape claim stands.

"The (ANC) NEC should be assuring the public that this high-level committee is addressing the issue as a matter of urgency, and will let the public know the outcome as soon as possible.

"Zuma should be telling us that, given the seriousness of the claim, he is standing down from his duties as deputy president of the ANC until the matter is resolved.

"Given the background that anything involving Zuma will be seen in the light of his struggle with Mbeki, we need clarity on what action the authorities are taking.

"Anything less will be seen as a behind-the-scenes power struggle that cares little for the rights of complainants," the editor concluded.

With acknowledgement to Sapa.


*1  Now just who takes this one seriously?

*2  What about Pietermaritzburg?

*3  Rape is about the survivor; it is also about those who did not or do not survive, like Jessica Wheeler and Victoria Stadler who were raped and murdered during the last month in Knysna. It is also about family units and women in general. Sometimes it is about small babies of either gender, often young boys seem to find the fancy of Christian priests and occasionally even about men.

Rape is a scourge that must be eradicated from society, just like corruption.

*4  As patron priest of the Moral Regeneration Movement.