Poisonous snakes and illness, the effects of a ‘sangoma at Zuma’s rape trial’

In Redi Tlhabi’s book titled Khwezi released recently, the award-winning journalist and former 702 radio host has detailed how a source revealed how Zuma was allegedly accompanied by a sangoma from KwaZulu-Natal during his rape trial.

The sangoma, who is unidentified, is said to have sat in on the rape trial, particularly when Zuma was cross-examined by Carina De Beer over three days.

City Press reports that De Beer found highly venomous boomslang snakes on her doorstep one evening after the trial. She was told by her domestic worker that this was a result of witchcraft.

De Beer’s colleague, Herman Broodryk, said he witnessed how she became weak, inexplicably ill and that there was an evil, malevolent atmosphere in the court room as Zuma took to the witness stand to answer questions from De Beer on the circumstances around the alleged rape.

The book also notes how, after the trial ended, De Beer’s life was never the same. Her marriage fell apart, she took ill and her finances suffered.

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