A top female advocate and Johannesburg's Director of Public Prosecutions, Charin de Beer, is to personally lead the rape prosecution against former deputy president Jacob Zuma later this month.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi confirmed that De Beer would be leading the prosecution.

Zuma, 63, will appear in the Johannesburg High Court, where a total of 23 witnesses will testify about the allegations.

The complainant, a 31-year-old HIV and Aids activist, has alleged that Zuma raped her after she had been invited to sleep over at his Forest Town mansion. She alleged that he came into the room where she was sleeping and forced himself on her.

Zuma appeared in the Johannesburg magistrate's court in December. He was granted bail of R20 000. De Beer, one of the few women directors of public prosecution divisions in the country, has resurrected a tradition of many years standing in the legal world that the director of public prosecutions would prosecute in person the most high-profile cases in her division.

Having risen through the prosecutorial ranks, De Beer is highly regarded by her peers and other advocates at the Johannesburg Bar. Since she took over the Johannesburg directorate of Public Prosecutions the office has seen a dramatic increase in successful prosecutions and the handing down of severe sentences.

There is now a 52 percent chance that when convicted, murderers will be sentenced to life imprisonment. In the first half of 2004, state advocates at the Johannesburg High Court secured 79 life sentences in 36 cases involving 53 accused charged with murder and robbery-related crimes.

Zuma made a low-key appearance at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, returning as an ordinary citizen to sit in the public gallery overlooking the seat he occupied in his days as the country's second most powerful politician.

With acknowledgement to The Star.