Jacob Zuma today accused political opponents of mounting a smear campaign after being acquitted of raping an HIV-positive family friend in South Africa's most highly charged court case since apartheid.

Mr Zuma, 64, the populist former Deputy President until recently considered the most likely successor to President Thabo Mbeki, was cleared of having raped the 31-year-old woman in November last year.

"I find that consensual sex took place between the complainant and the accused," Judge Willem van der Merwe told Johannesburg High Court.

As the verdict was read out, Mr Zuma looked on the verge of tears. He swallowed hard, then began to smile broadly as his supporters in the public gallery began yelling and clapping.

Women activists in court wept openly. They then held their own small protest outside.

"This is the biggest setback for women’s rights in decades. We’re going to see a drop in the number of women who report rape," said Miranda Friedmann, director of a group called Women and Men Against Child Abuse.

At the same time around 5,000 or Mr Zuma's supporters began dancing and singing in a celebration in the streets.

Although Mr Zuma has escaped a conviction, the case has done significant damage to his reputation by revealing that he had unprotected sex with a HIV-positive woman while he was head of South Africa’s National Aids Council.

Referring to this the Judge said: "It is totally inacceptable that a man should have unprotected sex with a person other than his regular partner and definitely not with a person who to his knowledge is HIV positive."

Mr Zuma has maintained that he is not HIV-positive throughout the trial, as has his defence team. However, he has never made any test results public.

The former deputy president was imprisoned on Robben Island during the apartheid era and remains a popular figure in the ruling African National Congress. Before the allegations surfaced he was considered a strong contender to succeed President Mbeki at the 2009 election. He has blamed political opponents for orchestrating a smear campaign to undermine his campaign for office.

After the verdict he addressed supporters with a speech outside the court in which he said that he was the victim of a conspiracy between the educated elite and the media to derail his career.

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