Publication: Business Day Issued: Date: 2006-02-09 Reporter: Ernest Mabuza

Zuma Supporters Call for Picket at Rape Trial

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date 2006-02-09

Reporter

 Ernest Mabuza

Web Link

www.businessday.co.za

 

The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust yesterday called for 5 000 people to join in a picket outside the Johannesburg High Court when the former deputy president appears next week to face rape charges.

Zuma, who appeared in the Durban High Court earlier this week fighting for the return of documents seized in raids on his homes last year, is the victim of a concerted effort by the media to find Zuma guilty even before he appears in court, the support group says.

“We are of the view that comrade Zuma should be accorded his chance in court rather than being publicly dehumanised by the courts of public opinion and the media,” the trust’s acting secretary in Gauteng, Lucky Zibi, said yesterday.

The mobilisation of support for Zuma is an act of hope ahead of a trial which, if it judges him guilty, will end the political career of the man previously destined for SA’s presidency.

In December Zuma was charged with the alleged rape of a family friend at his house in Johannesburg in November.

He appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court where he was released on bail of R20 000.

The trusts Gauteng spokesman Kaizer Mohau said yesterday it was not going to assist Zuma financially during the rape trial but it would offer moral support.

“The deputy president of the African National Congress has not been found guilty of any crime. We will continue to support him until the courts find otherwise,” Mohau said.

While the trust could not say how much it had raised for the corruption trial in June, it said support for Zuma was growing.

The trust also said the death of its Gauteng chairman, George Nene, in a car accident at the weekend, was suspicious.

“We have among us some who have the perception that there might be some unexplained angles in terms of how this accident happened,” Zibi said.

Zuma appeared in the Durban High Court earlier this week in an attempt to get back items seized from his homes by prosecutors in August last year. He will also appear in the same court on corruption charges at the end of July.

Zuma’s legal team argued that the state had violated the former deputy president’s rights to privacy and silence *1.

With acknowledgements to Ernest Mabuza and Business Day.


*1  Trite Logic

One has a constitutional right to privacy and silence.

Exercising this right implies tautologously that one does not co-operate with the investigators.

The investigators have a right to investigate and a statutory right to lawful search and seizure.

If one exercises one's right to privacy and silence, then one invites search and seizure.

One should not protesteth too much.

QED.