Former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, speaking to reporters a day after being acquitted of rape, apologised today for having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman, but denied he had harmed South Africa’s Aids prevention program.

South Africa’s most politically explosive trial since the end of apartheid neared its conclusion today, with the prosecution describing would-be president Jacob Zuma’s claim that he had consensual sex with his rape accuser as “fanciful".