Jacob Zuma's rape defence has been hit by damaging evidence that the former deputy president lied to police about having had sex with the complainant.

But it has also emerged that police made a series of blunders in their investigation of the case, by failing to secure key evidence that could have revealed which of the alleged rape accounts by Zuma and his accuser is true.

While the complainant claimed Zuma raped her while she was trying to sleep in his guest room, Zuma is expected to testify that the couple had consensual sex in his bedroom - making the location of the alleged rape one of the central issues of contention in the case.

In potentially devastating evidence, Police Commissioner Norman Taiwe testified yesterday that not only had Zuma pointed out the guest room as the location of the alleged rape, but that Zuma had also told him that "nothing happened" in his own bedroom on the night of the incident.

But, during Taiwe's cross-examination by Kemp J Kemp, Zuma's counsel, it emerged that:

Police gained entry to Zuma's Forest Town home only nearly a fortnight after the complainant laid her rape charge and failed to secure any of his bedding for testing - which could have helped to determine where the alleged rape took place.

Taiwe had failed to note in his original statement about the police's visit that Zuma had pointed out his guest room - where the complainant claimed Zuma had raped her - as the "alleged crime scene".

Despite acknowledging that Zuma's alleged pointing-out was "very important", Taiwe said he had remembered the incident only after making his statement.

Asked by Kemp why he had not "bothered" to make a follow-up statement to add that Zuma had pointed out the guest bedroom as the alleged crime scene, Taiwe responded: "It slipped my mind."

During his visit to Zuma's home, Taiwe admitted that he had failed to warn Zuma of his rights, but said he was not required to do so because he had warned Zuma six days earlier.

While Zuma's first statement to the police, made on November 10, contained no direct evidence of any sexual contact between himself and the complainant, Kemp argued yesterday that the line "we again began to converse and share in each other's company privately", could be interpreted as suggesting sexual activity.

"I don't agree with that interpretation," Taiwe responded.

Yesterday Kemp also grilled the complainant's best friend - who works for Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils - about the events that followed the woman's alleged rape.

Kasrils, who is on the State's witness list, claimed in a police statement that the complainant had called him on the day that she laid her rape charge against Zuma to ask for his advice on her security. Because of the case's political sensitivity, he had declined to become involved, he said.

Like the complainant, Nomthandazo "Kimi" Msibi would not be drawn on whether she believed Kasrils fell into a pro- or anti-Zuma camp. She told the court that the complainant had asked her to phone Kasrils to discuss her security concerns, but she had said she would rather not because of the professional relationship she had with him.

Msibi also confirmed the complainant's evidence that a lawyer had tried to get her to drop her rape charge against Zuma - on the same day that police took DNA samples from Zuma and visited his home.

Initially under the impression that the complainant's meeting with attorney Yusuf Docrat was about the publication of the complainant's name and photograph in Beeld newspaper, Msibi said she had been surprised when the subject turned to the withdrawal of charges.

Msibi said Docrat - whose meeting with the complainant is understood to have been arranged by KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Zweli Mkhize - repeatedly advised the complainant to withdraw the charge.

"He was pushing it ... 'you can withdraw, you can withdraw, you can withdraw'," she said.

Msibi described the complainant's behaviour on the morning after the incident as "very, very abnormal".

Earlier testifying that the complainant had loved and revered Zuma as a "father", Msibi said she had been shocked when, on the morning after the alleged rape, and referring to Zuma, the complainant told her: "I hate that man. I never want to see him again."

Msibi said the complainant had later spent the night at her home.

Questioned by State counsel Herman Broodryk about the complainant's emotional state during the sleep-over, Msibi said:

"She was extremely unsettled, restless and clingy ... she just wanted to talk and have me there."

With acknowledgement to Karyn Maughan, Gill Gifford, Jeremy Gordin and Cape Argus.