Global NewsCourt Orders Ex-President Zuma Back To Prison

Court Orders Ex-President Zuma Back To Prison

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December 15, (THEWILL) – A South African High Court on Wednesday, ordered former President Jacob Zuma be returned to prison.

The Court, sitting in Pretoria, held that the medical parole he was granted in September was unlawful, and ordered that Zuma, 79, “be returned to the custody of the Department of Correctional Services” to serve out the remainder of his 15-month sentence.

But Zuma could still appeal Wednesday’s ruling.

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THEWILL recalls that the former President, who was convicted of contempt of court earlier this year, was granted medical parole after serving less than two months in jail.

He had handed himself in on July 7 to begin his prison sentence, but his imprisonment was the catalyst for the worst civil unrest in South Africa since the country’s first non-racial elections in 1994. The violence left at least 354 people dead and thousands of businesses pillaged and razed.

The protests, according to observers was an outpouring of general anger over the hardship and inequality that persist 27 years after the end of apartheid.

But the legal processes against Zuma for alleged corruption during his nine-year reign, have been widely viewed as test of post-apartheid South Africa’s ability to enforce rule of law, particularly against powerful, well connected people.

However, the Department of Correctional Services said it was studying the latest judgement and in due course will make further pronouncements.

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