Aids groups angered by statements in Zuma trial

HIV and Aids activists are angered about the effect Jacob Zuma’s testimony in his rape trial could have. Zuma claims he had consensual sex with the accuser, a 31-year-old HIV-positive activist. He told the Johannesburg High Court he did not use a condom because he believed the risk of contracting the virus from a HIV positive woman was minimal. The Aids education NGO, Soul City, says such a statement is highly irresponsible in a country where one in nine people is HIV-positive. The Treatment Action Campaign’s Nathan Geffen describes Zuma’s belief that taking a shower after having sex reduces the risk of contracting the virus as dangerous and ill-informed.