NPA denies payments were made to Zuma's rape accuser - report
11 January 2019
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has denied making any payments to the late Fezekile "Khwezi" Kuzwayo, who accused former president Jacob Zuma of rape.
This was according to a BusinessDay report on Friday which stated that the NPA said Kuzwayo had been "protected and housed" by the police in a safe house after she accused the former president in 2005.
Zuma was acquitted of the rape in May 2006. Kuzwayo died on October 7, 2016.
In October last year, Zuma's legal team requested information on whether the NPA paid Kuzwayo.
The request was in support of his legal team's application for a permanent stay of his prosecution for corruption, News24 reported.
Zuma faces charges of fraud, racketeering, corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, dating back to the infamous arms deal in the late 1990s.
Zuma stated in court papers that he believed the trial was an attempt to tarnish his name, and claimed the prosecution was biased, News24 reported.
According to the BusinessDay report, a letter dated January 7 which was sent to Zuma's lawyers, stated that the NPA had been unable to obtain any form of payments from November 2005 to August 2008 to Khwezi.
The publication further reported that in its response, the NPA further handed over the "materials relating to the income tax offences" Zuma had been charged with.
The tax charges relate to his alleged failure to submit tax returns from 1995 to 2003 and declare income of R2.7m, as well as the alleged evasion of R1.6m in taxes.
Zuma's corruption trial will resume again on May 20 in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.
In November last year, Judge Mjabuliseni Madondo ordered that the permanent stay of prosecution arguments and the criminal proceedings be heard on that day.
