Court Send Zuma Back to Jail
On November 21, South Africa‘s Supreme Court of Appeal declared that former president Jacob Zuma‘s early medical parole release was “unlawful” and that he should go back to jail to serve out the remainder of his term for contempt of court.
After he disobeyed a court order to testify at a government investigation into widespread corruption during his almost decade-long presidency, which ended in 2018 with the election of incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison last year.
Zuma was granted medical parole in September 2021 after completing a portion of his term. However, the supreme court overturned the parole judgment in December and mandated that he be sent back to prison.
A month after the Department of Correctional Services announced that Zuma’s prison sentence had ended, the court’s decision—which was the result of his appeal—was announced on Monday.
Therefore, Mr. Jacob has not completed serving his full sentence, according to the law. In order to do so, he must go back to the Escourt Correctional Facility, according to the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling.
The department’s assertion that Zuma’s sentence had already been served while the appeal was being heard was disputed by the court.
Additionally, it determined that it was illegal for the former national commissioner of correctional services to give Zuma medical parole notwithstanding the expert body’s advice.
The commissioner’s ruling was illegal and unconstitutional on every possible basis. The high court made the right decision to overturn it, the judgment stated.
