From a very short profile of Jacob Zuma, the man who will in all likelihood become the president of South Africa next year, in today New York Times.
He is a husky man with a shaved head, a high-beam smile and an outsize personality. Should people be afraid?
“I can’t tell you why, but he scares me to death,” said Rita
Middleton, as she took in the newspaper headlines on Sunday in a
neighborhood grocery. [Italics mine]
Why?
In 2005, on trial for the rape of a 31-year-old family friend, Mr. Zuma
testified that she had seduced him by wearing a short skirt and sitting
in a provocative way. He said that “Zulu culture” had left him no
option but to oblige. Afterward, he said, he took a shower, believing
it would minimize the risk of contracting H.I.V. He was found not
guilty.
--Isaac Chotiner