Rape trial against Zuma continues

South African ex- deputy president Jacob Zuma's rape trial continued on Monday with further witness testimony expected in the Johannesburg High Court.

Zuma, 63, one of the country's most popular politicians, who was sacked by President Thabo Mbeki last year, denied the charges by a 31-year-old woman when the trial began in the city last week. He also faces separate charges of corruption.

The woman faced grueling cross-examination last week with intimate details of her life and her sexual history being examined.

The court heard how she was allegedly raped in Zuma's guest room while staying overnight during a family crisis, while Zuma's lawyer Kemp J Kemp said that Zuma would say that the two had consensual sex in his bedroom.

Much of the woman's cross-examination centered around her previous experience of being raped, with the defense claiming that she had a history of laying rape charges and that the men in question were her boyfriends.

The woman denied this, pointing out that whether she had sex with consent or not, she was five and 13 years old respectively when these incidents occurred while her family was in exile.

She finally stood down on Friday, with her mother taking the stand.

Source: Xinhua