Former president Zuma shows up in jail just before deadline

Former South African President Jacob Zuma went to jail to serve his 15-month prison sentence. Police confirm this after a message from Zuma’s foundation.

Last week, Zuma was sentenced by the Constitutional Court to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. The verdict states that he tried in all kinds of ways to ignore, undermine or even destroy the rule of law. Zuma, 79, refused to appear at a hearing on corruption charges during his presidency from 2009 to 2018.

After the verdict, his lawyers tried to prevent the ANC politician from ending up in jail. On Saturday, the Constitutional Court suspended the prison sentence is always temporary, so that the former president can present his objections to the conviction to the court.

Delay until midnight

Later, the court ruled that Zuma really needed to go to jail and gave him until midnight to report. If he didn’t do it on purpose, the police could arrest him just after midnight.

Fourteen minutes before the deadline, his foundation announced that Zuma had decided to comply with the jail order and was headed to jail.