Court hears Zuma accuser got pastor expelled

JOHANNESBURG – A church pastor told the Johannesburg High Court yesterday how he was expelled from college after a false rape accusation by Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser.

Pastor Sithembile Masoka told the court that he and the woman, who alleges Zuma raped her on November 2 last year, studied together in Vereeniging in 1995. One day, he and a friend went to her room and he “proposed love” to her.He explained to the court that he had wanted to have an affair with her.She laughed at him and rejected his proposal.The next day he was called in by the principal of the Wilberforce Theological College and expelled for rape.He was not given a chance to explain himself, was upset because “the charge did not fit”, and lost a year of his studies.He enrolled at another college to complete his studies and was now based in Upington.In her earlier testimony, the woman denied making any rape allegations while studying to be a priest.Told under cross-examination that the woman did not even remember him, Masoka replied: “That is not true”.He didn’t know why she’d make up a false charge.The woman has testified that she had a lapse in consciousness while at the college and fell pregnant, presumably by her house-master.She told the court she eventually left the college because of what she felt were inappropriate advances by a priest there.The defence has called to the stand Duduzile Ngcobo, who worked at the Diakonia Ecumenical Centre, in Durban, and knew the woman when she was part of the Inter-Church Youth non-denominational group working at the centre.- Nampa-SapaOne day, he and a friend went to her room and he “proposed love” to her.He explained to the court that he had wanted to have an affair with her.She laughed at him and rejected his proposal.The next day he was called in by the principal of the Wilberforce Theological College and expelled for rape.He was not given a chance to explain himself, was upset because “the charge did not fit”, and lost a year of his studies.He enrolled at another college to complete his studies and was now based in Upington.In her earlier testimony, the woman denied making any rape allegations while studying to be a priest.Told under cross-examination that the woman did not even remember him, Masoka replied: “That is not true”.He didn’t know why she’d make up a false charge.The woman has testified that she had a lapse in consciousness while at the college and fell pregnant, presumably by her house-master.She told the court she eventually left the college because of what she felt were inappropriate advances by a priest there.The defence has called to the stand Duduzile Ngcobo, who worked at the Diakonia Ecumenical Centre, in Durban, and knew the woman when she was part of the Inter-Church Youth non-denominational group working at the centre. – Nampa-Sapa