Links of Interest

Taking the stand for the first time this week in the rape trial, [South African political bigwig Jacob] Zuma cast himself as the embodiment of a traditional Zulu male, with all the privileges that patriarchal Zulu traditions bestow on men. Mr. Zuma, who turns 64 this week, said his accuser, a 31-year-old anti-AIDS advocate, had signaled a desire to have sex with him by wearing a knee-length skirt to his house and sitting with legs crossed, revealing her thigh.

Indeed, he said, he was actually obligated to have sex. His accuser was aroused, he said, and “in the Zulu culture, you cannot just leave a woman if she is ready.” To deny her sex, he said, would have been tantamount to rape.

During my three-month stay in South Africa, I tried to learn as much as I could of African customs and language, but this one is new to me. Zuma’s arrogance extends to the biological; he never put a condom on despite knowing that the victim was HIV-positive. Read on, and you can see that there might well have been real questions as to Zuma’s guilt had he not opened his mouth. Which makes it good, in one way, that he did.