JOHANNESBURG: A South African judge on Monday acquitted former deputy president Jacob Zuma of raping an HIV-positive family friend after a sensational court case which opened wide rifts in the ruling African National Congress.
Zuma was once seen as South Africa's next president.
The verdict kept his political career alive but he was badly wounded by the case.
“I find that consensual sex took place between the complainant and the accused,” Judge Willem van der Merwe told a packed Johannesburg High Court in a verdict that was broadcast live on national television.
Zuma's rape trial has fanned tension in the ruling African National Congress, where he remains a widely popular figure and was until recently seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
More than 2,000 pro-Zuma supporters staged a demonstration outside the Johannesburg courthouse, the latest in a series of protests attesting to the grassroots popularity of a man many affectionately dub JZ.
The 64-year-old anti-apartheid veteran had pleaded not guilty to raping his accuser at his Johannesburg home last November.
But his lawyers said he did have consensual sex with the woman, a 31-year-old AIDS activist.
Conviction for rape could have brought a jail term of up to 15 years.
Zuma was hit with the rape case following a separate graft scandal last year that prompted Mbeki to sack him as the country's second-highest official.
He is due to go on trial in July on the corruption charges, which he has denied and described as part of a shadowy political plot by his enemies in the ANC to end his presidential hopes.
