South Africa’s Zuma turns self in to police to start prison term

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has turned himself in to police to begin serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of the country’s highest court.

The Constitutional Court had ordered police to arrest Zuma by the end of Wednesday if he did not report to a police station in his hometown of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal Province or in Johannesburg within five days, because he had refused to appear at a corruption hearing session earlier this year.

Just minutes before the midnight deadline for police to arrest him, the Zuma Foundation posted a tweet saying, “Dear South Africans and the world. Please be advised that president Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order. He is on his way to hand himself into a correctional services facility in KZN (KwaZulu-Natal Province).”

Dear South Africans and the World.
Please be advised that President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order.
He is on his way to hand himself into a Correctional Services Facility in KZN.
A full statement will be issued in due course.#WenzenuZuma

— JGZuma Foundation (Official) (@JGZ_Foundation) July 7, 2021

Zuma left his Nkandla home with a convoy of cars to an unnamed jail in his home province. His daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, wrote on Twitter that her father was “en route [to the jail] and he is still in high spirits” and that, “He said that he hopes they still have his same overalls from Robben Island... We salute dad!”

Police later confirmed that Zuma, a former activist against apartheid, was in their custody.

South Africa's Zuma sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court

South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, is handed down a 15-month jail term by the country’s top court for defying an order to appear at a corruption inquiry hearing earlier this year.

Zuma’s decision to obey the Constitutional Court order came after a week of rising tensions over his prison sentence, as the country is battling a brutal third wave of COVID-19.

“This is indeed a victory for all South Africans that have become fed up with those who have looted our country with impunity,” Herman Mashaba, the former mayor of Johannesburg and leader of the ActionSA  political party, said in a statement. “The judgment is equally a victory for the rule of law in South Africa, once again serving to highlight the independence of our judiciary. This is a central pillar of our hard-won democracy.”

Zuma, 79, who served as president from 2009 to 2018, at the weekend said he was ready to go to prison but added that “sending me to jail during the height of a pandemic, at my age, is the same as sentencing me to death.” He asked the court to annul the sentence on the grounds that it was excessive and could expose him to COVID-19.

The corruption inquiry, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, has been investigating charges of graft against Zuma in his time in power from 2009 to 2018. The former South African president has denied wrongdoing, and claims that Zondo has personal motives.

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