By Karyn Maughan
British newspaper The Guardian has apologised for its claims that President Jacob Zuma was a corrupt rapist - and agreed to pay him "substantial damages".
The exact amount to be paid to Zuma will not be made public.
In a statement released on Thursday, Zuma said he was "pleased" that The Guardian had apologised for the March 6 article, which he said was "offensive to me and the ANC".
"We had to take action in this matter because the publication crossed the line," he said, stressing that he was a firm supporter of press freedom.
"It is an extremely serious incident when a national newspaper labels an innocent person as being corrupt or being a rapist. I firmly believe in press freedom and freedom of expression. I have fought for these and other basic rights my whole life and I will continue to support this."
Zuma launched defamation proceedings against the respected paper after it ran an article by Simon Jenkins entitled "Get used to a corrupt and chaotic South Africa. But don't write it off".
The article described Zuma's leadership style as "morally contaminated".
Zuma's London legal representatives, Schillings Laywers, stated that the allegations were "of the utmost seriousness and totally untrue".
"In light of the facts that the is now willing to pay very substantial damages and it has publicly apologised to ," she said.
- Read the full story in Friday's editions of The Star newspaper.