S Africa set for verdict in Zuma rape trial

JOHANNESBURG, May 8 (Reuters) Hundreds of singing supporters of South African former Deputy President Jacob Zuma gathered outside a Johannesburg court house today amid tight security before the scheduled verdict in his rape trial.

Police cordoned off the court building yesterday night in preparation for the ruling, which caps a sensational trial that opened deep rifts in the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

The nearly two-month trial of the populist politician was marked by rowdy rival protests by his supporters and gender activists, and thousands of Zuma supporters turned out yesterday for a fund-raising rally to benefit his legal fund.

Judge Willem van der Merwe is expected to begin delivering his verdict at 0700 GMT, and the proceedings will be broadcast live on television and radio.

A group of Zuma supporters held an all-night vigil near the court, a demonstration of faith in a man once seen as South Africa's likely next president but whose career many analysts say has been severely damaged by the rape charges.

Zuma, 64, is facing a separate trial on graft charges starting in July.

TOday several hundred protesters chanted and danced near the courthouse, while others sang Zuma's trademark anti-apartheid struggle song ''Bring me my machinegun''.

''He's my president. He will not be found guilty because that girl, she is lying,'' said Thami Kubheka, who arrived at the court at about 3 am with a group of Zuma supporters from his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Other demonstrators carried signs declaring Zuma's innocence and wearing pro-Zuma t-shirts, many of them bundled in blankets against the early winter chill.

Supporters said they expected the crowd to swell into the thousands by the time the judge began delivering his ruling.

Zuma is accused of raping a 31-year-old family friend at his Johannesburg home last November. He has conceded he had sex with his accuser, an HIV-positive AIDS activist, but said it was consensual.

HIGH POLITICAL STAKES A guilty verdict could bring a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, while an acquittal could breathe new life into his badly damaged political career.

President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as deputy president last year after he was implicated in a corruption scandal, and he was later formally charged with graft.

Zuma's dismissal raised tensions within the ANC, fanned by Zuma's own charge that the corruption case was part of a political smear campaign designed to prevent him from succeeding Mbeki as president in 2009.

The rape case was another blow, especially when it emerged that Zuma had unprotected sex with the woman despite knowing she was HIV-positive, and believed he could avoid infection himself by simply taking a shower.

Zuma's defence has tried to discredit his accuser -- who under South African law cannot be named -- by depicting her as flirtatious and reviewing her past sexual history, including rape charges she had previously made against other men.

While Zuma has received public support from union groups and the left-leaning ANC Youth League, Mbeki and other leading ANC figures have remained largely silent on his case, saying simply that the law should be allowed to take its course.

Van der Merwe is expected to take several hours to deliver his verdict to a packed courtroom full of local and international media.

Zuma is expected to address his supporters later at a nearby city square.

REUTERS OM VV1148