South African VP says he believes Zuma is guilty of rape

Cyril Ramaphosa the Vice President of South Africa says he believes that President Jacob Zuma is actually guilty of raping a woman Fezekile Kuzwayo who accused the incumbent of having forceful carnal knowledge with her in 2006.

Speaking in an interview on radio, Ramaphosa said; “The outcome of the case led to the acquittal of President Jacob Zuma.”

When asked on whether he believed Kuzwayo’s allegations, he said: “I know how difficult and painful it is for a woman to garner the courage to stand up and say ‘Yes I was raped’. “It must be one of the most difficult decisions she has to make, so yes, I would believe her.”

Read also: South African minister calls on the ANC to discipline President Zuma

Zuma was found not guilty of raping Kuzwayo before he became president in 2009 and his office issued a terse statement on Friday, staying that the court verdict at the time was clear.

In the month of July this year, former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor alleged in a new book that Zuma made inappropriate sexual advances on her while he was deputy president of the country.

Mentor was promoting her new book No Holy Cows on Thursday, which details her alleged experience of the extent of sexual harassment in the ruling party.

She claimed she twice rejected Zuma, once while she was a younger ANC member in the early 1990s, and then when she was chairperson of the ANC caucus in the mid-2000s.

 

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