Democracy's Shadows: Sexual Rights and Gender Politics in the Rape Trial of Jacob Zuma

Abstract

This article examines the implications of the trial of Jacob Zuma, current president of the ANC, for sexual and gender politics in South Africa. The article argues that a central, contested issue in public debates on the trial was the relationship between public and private spheres in society.

Keywords:

• culture
• gender equality
• sexual rights
• Zuma

Notes

This article was written in honour of my dear friend and mentor, Professor Jacklyn Cock, on her (putative) retirement in 2007. Thanks, as always, to WUJWG for their thoughtful comments on an early draft. The final version also benefited from the sharp insights of Irma du Plessis.

2006 SA (WLD).

Several commentators have noted the phallic symbolism and violent masculinity played out by Zuma and his supporters (Ratele 2006; Gqola 2007; Vetten 2007; Robins 2008).

The campaign took its name from the statistic that only one in nine women who were raped reported the incident to the police. The consortium of women's rights organisations was formed as a direct reaction to the trial.

This motion was denied by the court. In his judgement, Van der Merwe was critical of the advocacy groups’ actions in bringing the application, although the actions of Zuma supporters were not commented on.

Khwezi and her non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporters had a fractious relationship behind the scenes. Khwezi was not in favour, for example, of the amicus curiae brief brought to the trial by Tshwaranang, CALS and CSVR.

These struggles inside the League resulted in the formation of the Progressive Women's Movement in November 2006, led by prominent feminists Thenjiwe Mtintso and Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini. The Progressive Women's Movement was not a breakaway from the League, but rather an attempt to re-create the powerful broad lobby that had been effective in the early 1990s with the League as the lead organisation. The League acknowledged that it had found it ‘difficult’ to provide leadership during the rape trial (see <http://www.anc.org.za/wl/docs/ngc07/org_report.html> accessed 7 February 2008).

The rape trial was the lesser of Zuma's legal woes. His trial for corruption in relation to the arms deal has yet to take place. In February 2009 the trial date was finally set for August 2009, by which time he is almost certain to be president of South Africa.

I address these debates in some detail in Hassim (2006).

S v Zuma 2006 SA (WLD):45, 64.

Indeed, hierarchies of age are constantly reinforced in women's organisations where the convention of referring to older women as ‘mama’ and of deferring to their views is strongly guarded. Women's organisations have not, on the whole, accepted flatter informal relationships nor treated all voices as equal within an organisation. The argument for preserving cultural codes of respect is usually strongly made and preferably should be adhered to even by members of organisations who might not accept those. Yet it bears questioning whether such codes also reinforce traditional power.

The researchers note that this is a probably an under-estimate, as some men were likely not to report abusive behaviour because of anticipated criticism.

Even in acquitting Zuma, the judge reproduced the idea of men as ‘naturally’ sexually driven, and posited ‘true masculinity’ as being the ability to control this sexual drive. Others (Robins 2008; Vetten 2007) have noted the close association between the cultural defence adopted by Zuma and apartheid-era assumptions of black masculinity as well as stereotypes of appropriate dress for women in Roman-Dutch law.

S v Zuma 2006 SA (WLD):163.

In particular, I refer to the expert testimony of Dr Merle Friedman on behalf of the state, which was dismissed by the judge. By contrast, the testimony of two defence witnesses, neither experts (Dudizile Ncobo and Mahlabe) was found credible; the judge noted that ‘both these witnesses in all earnesty [sic] said the complainant is a sick person who needs help’ (S v Zuma 2006 SA (WLD):172).

However, Zuma said that he had not initiated the offer but that people close to him had done so without consulting him. In a recent case involving the Chief Whip of the ANC, Mbulelo Goniwe, accused of sexual harassment of his secretary, Goniwe also offered compensation in the form of a number of cows to her family; the complainant rejected the offer although members of her family apparently pressurised her to accept it rather than go public and thereby bring disgrace upon her family.