South Africa’s ex-president, Jacob Zuma, went back to jail in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal on Friday morning to resume his prison term but was shortly after freed on special remission.
The South African authorities announced this.
The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, said Zuma was released on the remission process that President Cyril Ramaphosa gave to low-risk offenders.
He said the remission was to help reduce the number of prisoners in jails.
“He (Zuma) is not above the law. That is why the National Commissioner of the department of correctional services decided that he must come back to prison to obey the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling,” Lamola said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal ordered Zuma, who is 81 years old, to return to prison last month. It said his release on medical parole was illegal. The former head of South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, had granted him parole against the advice of the Medical Parole Advisory Board.
Zuma was jailed for 15 months in July 2021 for contempt of court. He had refused to appear before a judicial commission that was investigating corruption during his presidency, which lasted almost 10 years.
He was freed from the Estcourt Correctional Center on medical parole after only two months to serve his sentence under house arrest.
From 2009 to 2018, Jacob Zuma served as South Africa’s fourth president and also led the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), from 2007 to 2017. He is a polarizing figure who has been involved in many legal troubles and accusations of corruption, rape, and power abuse. He is also known for his populist style, his multiple wives, and his role in the fight against apartheid.
Zuma’s term as president was plagued by various scandals and controversies. He faced corruption charges for allegedly taking bribes from a French arms firm in a deal made in 1999. He was also charged with raping a family friend who was HIV-positive, but he was cleared of the charge in 2006. The corruption case was dismissed in 2009, just before he became president, but it was revived in 2016 by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Zuma’s support dwindled as the economy slumped, unemployment soared, and social discontent grew. He survived several attempts to oust him in parliament, thanks to the ANC’s majority. However, he lost the confidence of some of his allies within the party and the society. In December 2017, he was ousted by Cyril Ramaphosa as the ANC’s president. In February 2018, he stepped down as South Africa’s president after the ANC urged him to resign or face a vote of no confidence.