Khwezi hailed a heroine

Published Oct 10, 2016

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Pretoria - South Africans need to understand “what brave and courageous women” like Khwezi - President Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser - go through in their difficult lives.

This was ANC veteran Ronnie Kasrils’s message on Sunday, after news that Khwezi, real name Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, died.

News of her death on Saturday was revealed by her family on Sunday. The family said she had been ill.

In 2005, Khwezi accused President Jacob Zuma, then the deputy president, of raping her. Khwezi was familiar with Zuma, who had spent about 10 years on Robben Island with her father, Judson Kuzwayo, who was an ANC member.

During the trial, Zuma said the sex had been consensual as Khwezi had “asked for it”. He also testified that he had taken a shower after having sex with her. His comments lead to satirical cartoons on the then potential president’s views on the prevention of HIV/Aids. Zuma was acquitted in May 2006.

Khwezi left South Africa for the Netherlands where she was granted a five-year political asylum with her mother in 2007. In 1990, she had been diagnosed with HIV and then became an Aids activist.

In her application, Khwezi had said she no longer felt safe in South Africa and was being threatened by Zuma supporters.

Soon after settling in the Netherlands, Khwezi, dressed in a khanga, the sarong-type garment she had been wearing when Zuma had sex with her, performed a poem on the eve of the bi-annual Afrovibes Festival, in which she responded for the first time to the court’s verdict.

In it she referred to a man who called himself “my daddy’s best friend” and who shared a cell with him on Robben Island for 10 years.

“He said I wanted it; That my khanga said it; That with it I lured him to my bed; That with it I want you is what I said; But what about the NO I uttered with my mouth; Not once but twice,” read the poem. “My world is a world where sex is pleasurable not painful.”

It’s unclear when she returned to South Africa, but in 2012, Azapo launched a campaign to bring her home, saying it did not understand why she should be in exile.

Her mother, Mama Beauty Kuzwayo, described her as “a loving soul, daughter, sister and an aunt who would forever be held dear in her heart”.

Kasrils said Khwezi’s death was tragic. “This is so devastating and incredibly tragic. She was a lovely human being who lived a lonely life after many years of hell,” he said.

Kasrils recently won a R1 million defamation case against uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans leader Kebby Maphatsoe, who said Kasrils trumped up the rape charge.

“One recalls the abuse to her, and those who castigated her should hang their heads in shame. She looked after her mother through this difficult period and came back home only about a year ago. I am sure the country needs to understand what brave and courageous women like her go through,” he said.

During the announcement of the 2016 municipal election results in Pretoria, four female protesters staged a silent demonstration at the Independent Electoral Commission of SA’s results centre in front of Zuma as he delivered his speech. The silent protest, called #RememberKhwezi, was to commemorate Khwezi, 10 years after the court acquitted Zuma.

On Sunday, the One in Nine Campaign described her as a feminist, an activist, teacher, sister, friend and colleague who inspired people close to her and women in general. “We continue to believe her and we will continue to fight for justice for Fezeka and all survivors.”

The DA and ACDP said on Sunday that it was a pity that she had died before seeing justice. Both the ANC Women’s League and Zuma’s spokesperson, Bongani Ngqulunga, said they will comment later as they had not heard the news. - Additional reporting by Siyabonga Mkhwanazi

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