Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

WORLD NEWS

Court Orders Ex-President Jacob Zuma To Return To Prison

Court Orders Ex-President Jacob Zuma To Return To Prison

According to Reuters, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal decided on Monday that the decision to release ex-President Jacob Zuma on early medical parole was “illegal” and that he should return to prison to serve his term for contempt of court.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison last year after refusing to testify before the Zondo Commission, which was probing him for suspected corruption during his nine years as president.

After a dramatic standoff, the 79-year-old surrendered to police in July 2021, but his imprisonment, unusual for an ex-president, triggered violent riots and looting.

In December of last year, the Supreme Court overturned Zuma’s parole judgment and ordered him to return to prison. But Zuma filed an appeal and was released.

On any conceivable basis, the commissioner’s decision was unlawful and unconstitutional. The high court was correct to set it aside.

In other words, Mr Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional centre to do so.

Whether the time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration is not a matter for this court to decide. It is a matter to be considered by the Commissioner. If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release.

A spokesman for Jacob Zuma Foundation said the foundation would respond. On Sunday, ahead of the court ruling, foundation spokesman Mzwanele Manyi said the judgment did not have anything to do with Zuma. He said:

We think… he has served the 15 months that he was meant to serve in any event and importantly it is not President Zuma that applied for the medical parole… It is the government itself, the department of correctional services initiated the process and they saw it through.

The court did not rule on whether time spent by Zuma on medical parole should be taken into account when determining the remaining period of incarceration, saying this would be left in the hands of the national commissioner of correctional services.

The department of correctional services said it noted and respects the court’s decision.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending

LOCAL NEWS

A Seventh-day Adventist Church choir conductor allegedly stripped naked his brother’s wife and assaulted her together with her mother. Trust Mudhombo was reported to...

LOCAL NEWS

Harare | After presidential intervention, the NSSA Board Chair was compelled to return her car. According to a close source with knowledge of the...

LOCAL NEWS

A lady from Eastview was detained yesterday for molesting and locking her sister’s infant in a room every time she left the house since...

LOCAL NEWS

HARARE | Chaos erupted in the bustling streets of Harare Central Business District (CBD) yesterday afternoon as enraged passersby took the law into their...

LOCAL NEWS

A 36-year-old Waterfalls man was detained on Friday after being accused of raping a fourth-grader. It is stated that Isdore Tendai Kamusunda brought his...

LOCAL NEWS

President Mnangagwa cheated death thrice during his lifetime, including the infamous poisoning in Gwanda six years ago and escaping the death sentence on a...

LOCAL NEWS

Harare | Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader, self-proclaimed prophet Magaya, has once again come under fire for trying to dodge a story that...

Celeb Gossip

Harare | Social media erupted after a photo of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s daughters-in-law at his birthday dinner at the White House. Zimbabweans made fun...