|
|
 |
|
CNS Story:
|
SAFRICA-ZUMA May-23-2006 (710 words) xxxi
South African cardinal says Zuma trial is setback to AIDS battle
By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Attitudes revealed in former Deputy President Jacob Zuma's rape trial are a serious setback to the country's battle against the spread of AIDS, church leaders said.
In early May Zuma was acquitted of charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend at his Johannesburg home last November.
Zuma is the former head of South Africa's AIDS council, and his "behavior was not caused by ignorance" of how HIV is contracted, said Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.
"This has very serious implications," he said in a May 18 telephone interview from Durban.
"Here we are thinking our AIDS rate is so high because of ignorance -- and running extensive education campaigns to inform people -- but it seems it is not ignorance but an unwillingness to change behavior" that is driving the epidemic.
Zuma, 64, told the Johannesburg High Court judge that he and his 31-year-old accuser, whom he knew to be HIV-positive, had consensual sex.
South Africa has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates. A national HIV/AIDS study confirmed last year that about 11 percent of the country's 45 million people are HIV-positive.
"There is no indication that there has been a change of behavior in individuals," Cardinal Napier said, noting that Zuma's statement in court that he took a shower after intercourse to lessen the likelihood of contracting the disease was "ridiculous."
Zuma's attitudes and behavior are "no different from those of the general public. They understand how HIV is transmitted, know the risks, yet go ahead" with risky sexual behavior, said Dominican Sister Alison Munro, who heads the bishops' AIDS office.
"It seems that the heat of the moment takes precedence over common sense and knowledge," she said in a May 19 telephone interview from Pretoria.
The implications of Zuma's "shower comment" at the trial are "a setback for us all in that we now have to debunk the myth in education programs," she said.
Because of this trial, South African rape victims are far less likely to report the crime to police, Cardinal Napier said. The case revealed a "frightening way of thinking," he said, notably "that the way a woman is dressed can invite rape."
Zuma told the court that he knew his accuser wanted sex because she came to his house wearing a skirt and then wished him good night wearing nothing but a traditional, full-length wrap called a "kanga."
"Here's a high-profile figure saying that -- what are young kids going to think?" Cardinal Napier said.
South Africa has one of the highest incidents of rape in the world, with statistics showing a conviction rate of only 1 in 9.
Zuma "made no apology for his infidelity and the harm caused to his family through his behavior," Cardinal Napier said, noting that "the apology he made was for not using a condom, which reveals his concern for political correctness."
Despite the trial, Zuma continues to draw widespread popular support in South Africa.
After his acquittal, Zuma was handed back his duties of deputy president of the ruling African National Congress. He faces a corruption trial in July. He denies the graft charges and has called them a plot by his enemies to slash his presidential hopes.
Before South African President Thabo Mbeki fired him as his deputy last June amid a corruption scandal involving Zuma's former financial adviser, Zuma was seen as a strong candidate to succeed the president when he steps down in 2009.
"If he does eventually become president in spite of his moral qualities, I worry about the image of political leadership in the country and the impact of that," Cardinal Napier said.
Sister Munro said South Africa's political leaders "play down the seriousness of the epidemic and a lot of people are fooled by that."
"We will not win the battle against AIDS unless leaders in the country throw their weight behind it and take it seriously," she said, noting that "ultimately it is prevention that is the key to stopping the spread of the epidemic."
Prevention, care and treatment are the focus of the church's AIDS work in South Africa, she added.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250
|
|
|
|
