Johannesburg, South Africa ? South Africa’s former deputy president was acquitted Monday of charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, a verdict that sent thousands of his ardent supporters dancing into the streets, hoping for his political comeback.

But Jacob Zuma, who made clear he still harbors ambitions to lead South Africa, faces a second trial, on corruption charges, in two months. To a growing number of South Africans, the man who once led both the country’s National AIDS Council and its Moral Regeneration Movement looks, despite his rape acquittal, like a man with appallingly bad judgment.

Judge Willem van der Merwe, in a detailed, six-hour explanation of his decision in the rape case, admonished the married Zuma, 64, for wantonly irresponsible behavior for having sex with the 31-year-old woman without a condom.

Zuma’s contention in the trial that he took a shower after having sex to reduce his chances of contracting the deadly virus and that he had sex without a condom because he thought his chances of getting the disease were small has horrified South African AIDS activists, who say the misinformation threatens lives in a nation where more than 5 million people are infected with the virus.

“That he was exonerated I don’t think translates into a vote of confidence in him as a leader,” said Xolela Mangcu, a social analyst with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “I think the broader public is embarrassed by the whole thing.”

In his verdict, broadcast live on national television, van der Merwe said prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zuma had anything but consensual sex with the woman when she spent the night at his Johannesburg home in November.

The woman, whose name was not revealed despite her public work as an AIDS activist, was vilified by Zuma’s supporters, who burned her photo outside the courtroom after she brought the rape charge. Taken into the country’s witness protection program after a series of death threats and burglaries at her home, she now expects to leave the country permanently, South African newspapers reported.

Gender and AIDS activists said the high-profile trial had the potential to help educate a nation struggling with high rates of rape, low rates of rape convictions and one of the highest AIDS infection rates in the world.

But the verdict, and the way the rape complainant was grilled on the stand about her sexual history, likely will dissuade other women from bringing rape charges, said Delphine Serumaga, the head of People Opposing Women Abuse, a advocacy group whose members attended the trial.