South Africa's former Deputy President Jacob Zuma pleaded not guilty yesterday to a rape charge that could end his political career, saying he had consensual sex with the woman who lodged the complaint.

Zuma once seen as the top contender to become South Africa's next president but now fighting separate corruption and sex scandals entered his not guilty plea as hundreds of his supporters demonstrated outside the Johannesburg courthouse.

"The woman visited my home on November 2 on her own volition. We had sex for some time. It was consensual," Zuma said in a statement read to the court by his attorney.

"My daughter was in the house. The lady had a cellphone and could contact anybody. She was also free and could have left at any time but she stayed for the night."

Zuma's accuser, a 31-year-old AIDS activist and long-time family friend, was due to be the first to testify in the politically-charged case, telling her story behind closed doors with only a limited audience of family friends and accredited media.

One of South Africa's most popular politicians and former frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009, Zuma was fired as Mbeki's deputy last year amid a corruption scandal and was later hit with the separate rape charge.

Zuma has denied both accusations, and says the corruption case is part of a vendetta by his political enemies in the ruling African National Congress (ANC), where he remains widely popular among the rank and file.

While Zuma has received vocal backing in the graft case from rank and file members and leftist allies of the ANC, support for him in the rape case has been more muted, reflecting the stigma that rape carries in the country battling abuse of women.

The rape case got off to a rocky start when three judges at the Johannesburg high court withdrew their names from consideration to preside over the trial, citing reasons including past political and family connections.

The trial began yesterday with Judge Willem van der Merwe presiding. Van der Merwe is from the Pretoria High Court and is white. The judges who declined to serve on the case were black.

Police kept a close eye on about 1,000 Zuma supporters who demonstrated outside the Johannesburg courthouse yesterday, chanting pro-Zuma slogans such as "100 per cent innocent."

A women's rights group held a parallel protest, holding posters reading "Five per cent rape conviction is not enough" in an effort to highlight South Africa's poor record in uncovering and prosecuting rape cases.

Source: China Daily