Big rally for Zuma on eve of rape ruling

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's former Deputy President Jacob Zuma rallied thousands of supporters on Sunday in a show of political strength on the eve of a ruling by a judge who will decide whether he will be convicted of rape.

As South Africa braced for today's verdict in its most sensational trial since the end of apartheid, a beaming Zuma attended a packed fund-raising concert held for him in a stadium in Soweto, outside Johannesburg.

The crowd applauded and cheered as Zuma entered the stadium, where traditional Zulu music stars gave a concert to raise funds for his legal defence.

Dressed in a black suit, Zuma said very little to the crowd, but joined musicians in belting out his trade mark anti-apartheid struggle song "Bring me my machinegun".

"As you all know I am on trial and I am not allowed to comment on my case," Zuma said in Zulu, thanking the crowd for its show of support. "It gives me the strength to go on."

The 7,000 capacity stadium was packed to overflowing, with hordes of people outside still trying to get in.

Zuma, until recently seen as the frontrunner to become South Africa's next president, could face 15 years in prison if found guilty of raping a 31-year-old family friend at his Johannesburg home last November.

An acquittal could keep his political career alive - widening rifts within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) where he remains a popular if polarising figure.

Judge Willem van der Merwe, who under South Africa's non-jury trial system will decide the case, is due to start delivering his verdict at 0700 GMT (7pm NZT) and has granted permission for the ruling to be broadcast live on television and radio.

Police said they were laying on extra security around the downtown Johannesburg courthouse, where both Zuma supporters and women's groups have staged noisy demonstrations during the almost two months of testimony in the case.

Zuma has conceded he had sex with his accuser, an HIV-positive AIDS activist, but said that it was consensual.

His lawyers have sought to discredit the complainant by depicting her relationship with the 64-year-old Zuma as flirtatious and reviewing her sexual history, including claims of rape she had made previously against other men.

The rape trial follows a year of dramatic political setbacks for Zuma, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who is one of the ANC's most powerful and charismatic figures.

Last year President Thabo Mbeki fired him as deputy president after Zuma's former financial adviser was found guilty of corruption, and prosecutors later brought graft charges against Zuma himself. That trial is scheduled to begin in July.

Zuma and his supporters say both the rape case and the corruption allegations are part of a smear campaign engineered by his enemies to end his hopes of succeeding Mbeki when his current and final term ends in 2009.

Importantly, Zuma has retained his position as deputy head of the ANC, giving him a potential springboard back into public life should he win acquittals in both the rape and graft cases.

But political analysts say no matter the outcome, the rape trial has already left Zuma badly damaged and exacerbated political and social tensions bubbling in the country.

Judith February, a political analyst at the independent Institute for Democracy in South Africa, said even if acquitted Zuma would find it difficult to regain his political leverage.

- REUTERS