Only a handful of Zuma’s most ardent fans gathered outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday, including his number one fan, whom everyone knows as Ma Mkhize, and Eugenia Jubulile Yantsho, who claims to be fan number two. Both women have followed the ANC deputy president’s legal travails, spending every day outside the court during both his rape and corruption trials.

Yantsho, who hails from Sterkspruit in Gauteng, said she is self-employed and can afford to take time off for the trials.

Mkhize, from KwaZulu-Natal, said she is there to show solidarity with the future president of the country. Both women felt that even though there were only a few supporters present, they were enough to register their protest at the way Zuma was being treated.

A proposed night vigil, prior to yesterday’s court hearing, did not take place and the spokesman for the Friends of Zuma Trust, Kaizer Mohau, admitted that the low turn-out at both the Zuma fund-raising concert and the vigil was due to poor organisation.

With acknowledgements to Nalini Naidoo and The Witness.