Perhaps rape is the most convenient crime that could put down world leaders of today. This kind of lawsuit is mostly baseless, especially if without the help of laboratorial intervention to be able to come up with physical evidences. It is just the word of the claiming victim against word of the accused. Motivation may vary from personal advancement to political inclination.
A perfect example of a rape case sabotaging the good image of a leader is that of the recently acquitted former Deputy President Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa. He was charged with the rape of a 31-year old HIV positive woman on December 6, 2005. The affair was used against Zuma by a concealed political contender.
Zuma, even before the rape trial case, had been eyed by many fellow contenders to be most likely winner of the presidential candidacy. He was regarded as the voice and the hand of the masses he had governed. Associated Press reviewed him as ‘a man who fought for the common man.” He also had the support of the African National Congress Youth League, and the South African Congress Trade and Union and South African Communist Party, both of which are influential alliances in the country.
Zuma was appointed Member of Executive Committee of Economic Affairs and Tourism on 1994. Due to the promising leadership he is performing, December of the same year he was elected National Chairperson of the ANC in Kwazulu-Natal. He was re-elected in the same position in 1996 election, and later in December 1997, he was elected Deputy President of the ANC. By 1999, he was appointed executive Deputy President of South Africa, carrying an air of the potential heir apparent of presidency of Thabo Mbeki.
Filing a rape case can be one of the techniques of an opposing party in attacking the very person of the leader of a certain group. An accused leader may probably be innocent at all. A very evident of using rape charges to hinder the possible tenure of a leader by someone else’s political objective is visible in the case of former Malaysian Deputy Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He was accused of sodomy and sex with five men by his former superior, the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He was arrested and jailed in 1998, and by 2004 he was declared not guilty of the crime as it was overturned.
One of the former alleged victims, Dr. Munawar Anees, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, claimed that his testimony against Anwar was coerced by unnamed authorities as written in his personal journal called The Human Imperative.
Anwar is respected for his principle standpoint against corruption and for his competent administration of the Malaysian economy during the country’s financial crisis at its peak during his term. He was also regarded as one of the forefathers of the Asian Renaissance and a leading advocate of human rights. It was eminent that in the early 1990’s Anwar had been groomed for leadership to succeed Mahathir bin Mohamad. Periodically, Mohamad had been appointing Anwar to be acting Prime Minister, but their good relationship started to deteriorate when differences in administrative viewpoints set in.
Republic of Uganda’s retired Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye’s case shares similar ground of this kind of injustice and political trend. In fact his case was very apparent of such charges in assaulting his good public image. Besigye, an opposition leader of Forum for Democratic Change and also a February 2006 presidential candidate, was charged and arrested with rape and treason case. On March 07, 2006 he was cleared with the charges filed against him. Judge John Bosco Katutsi who resided the case stated that "the state has dismally failed to prove its case against the accused." Besigye’s lawyers have seen government participation of the charges against him to disfigure his potential leadership, if not to keep him from running the presidency. The technique against him upset the vote he gained from the previous election, where he garnered only 37% vote against Muveni with 59% vote.
Besigye is known for his popularity and charisma among Uganda people. He was often viewed as the only viable candidate to won over Museveni for presidency during their first collision on 2001 election. Museveni was declared in the midst of violent incidents during the announcement of the result, on the belief that cheating strategies took place during the incidence mostly participated in by Museveni’s party. Besigye appealed to have the results nullified, but his request was refused when he was falsely accused of treason right after the 2001 elections.
This political trend also extends to other aspects of leadership. The Religious sector can also be influenced by this convenient form of character assault. Eliseo Soriano, a church leader of the Members Church of God International and a host of the international religious program, Ang Dating Daan (The Old path), was accused of rape by an excommunicated member of the sect. Daniel Veridiano, who later converted to another religious sect known for being strongly criticized by Soriano for their false teachings, sued Soriano for rape in September 2005. The case was shortly dismissed due to lack of evidence. The dismissed case was however filed again in higher court by the country’s Department of Justice Secretary, Raul Gonzales, who is not in anyway involved with the case.
Soriano is known for his principled teachings that he claims are mostly based on the bible. He became noted countrywide and eventually is catching up fame worldwide for his broadcasts in cyberspace and the international domain. He is remarkable for his frank and bold exposure of some religions’ questionable teachings and practices, all of which he declares are concealed forms of corruption toward their members financially and spiritually. Many religious sect leaders have attempted to gag him from broadcasting by fabricating charges of crimes against him, but these were eventually dismissed and cleared.
Soriano’s religious program was even recently awarded Most Informative Religious Program of the year by an internationally renowned Gawad Amerika Awards on November 18, 2006. Many of his supporters sense that this kind of achievement aggravates his enemies’ desire of wanting him dead.
If another effective leader is attempted to be shot down with a rape case by those opposed to his work, it will not be a surprise anymore. It has become a trend.
Courtesy of CNN iReport
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