By TERRY LEONARD
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; 3:05 PM
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A day after he was acquitted of rape, former Deputy President Jacob Zuma apologized Tuesday for having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman but denied he had harmed South Africa's AIDS prevention efforts.
Zuma's testimony that he thought he faced little risk from unprotected consensual sex with his accuser brought a scolding from the judge and angered activists who said he set a terrible example and demonstrated a shocking ignorance about the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
"I wish to state categorically and place on record that I erred in having unprotected sex. I should have known better," Zuma said Tuesday during a news conference broadcast live on radio and television. "And I should have acted with greater caution and responsibility. For this I unconditionally apologize to all the people of this country."
Before the rape trial and an unrelated corruption case that goes to trial in July, Zuma was seen as the man destined to succeed Thabo Mbeki as president. With Tuesday's news conference, he began what promised to be a vigorous attempt to revive his political career.
Zuma, who once headed the South African National AIDS Commission, also testified he had taken a shower after sex because he believed it reduced the risk of infection. AIDS experts belittled that.
The testimony was especially troubling in a country with 6 million HIV-infected people _ the highest number of infections in any nation. Activists thought his testimony could further damage efforts to control the spread of HIV in a country where the president has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and the health minister has resisted the spread of AIDS drugs while advocating garlic and the African potato as weapons against the disease.
Zuma was acquitted Monday of raping the 31-year-old HIV-positive AIDS activist and family friend at his Johannesburg home last November.
While saying he believed the judge was right to scold him for having unprotected sex with a woman he knew was HIV-positive, the former deputy president claimed his testimony was never intended as a policy statement on AIDS.
"I would like to underline the crucial struggle against HIV and AIDS continues in our country," he said. "Our country has one of the most comprehensive programs of HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, support and research. And I am proud to have been associated with it in my tenure in government."
He also repeated his assertion that he is HIV-negative on Tuesday.
As for his political ambitions, Zuma said he had never refused a request from the African National Congress and would not do so now if the party nominated him to run for president when Mbeki steps down in 2009. The constitution bars Mbeki from seeking a third term.
Zuma said he had informed ANC Secretary-General Kagalema Motlanthe that he intended to resume his duties as the deputy president of the governing party.
Mbeki fired Zuma as deputy president after he was charged with corruption and fraud. Zuma voluntarily suspended his activities as deputy president of the ANC after he was charged with rape last December. He will stand trial in July on the corruption charges, which are connected to a large South African arms deal.
The 64-year-old has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence of all charges and maintained the accusations were the result of a conspiracy by unidentified powers in the ANC seeking to derail his political career.
Zuma refused to say who he believed was behind the conspiracy but said he "did not see the hand" of Mbeki in it.
He also said the woman the judge ruled had falsely accused him of rape should not be vilified. She cannot be identified under South African law, but many South Africans know who she is.
The judge had said trauma in the woman's past may have led her to find "any sexual behavior threatening." The accuser was heckled as she arrived for court hearings, Zuma supporters burned her photograph outside the courtroom and aggressive cross-examination about her sexual history prompted concern that other women will be deterred from reporting rape.
The woman has been in a witness protection program since her allegations were made public. Her mother's house has been ransacked twice. South African media reported she is likely to be given a new home abroad.
Zuma said he did have a lot of regrets but that now it was time to move on.
"I'm not an angel. I live in this world," said Zuma. "You make mistakes, you develop, you move forward."
