Former South African President Jacob Zuma, 79, who was sentenced to fifteen months in prison, presented himself to prison on Wednesday. His organization announced this.
It was reported on Twitter that “Zuma has decided to comply with the arrest warrant. He is on his way to a correctional facility” in KwaZulu-Natal province. This announcement comes a few minutes before the deadline ends. The court ruled that Zuma should turn himself in by midnight at the latest. A convoy of dozens of cars had left Zuma’s home half an hour earlier.
Last week, the Constitutional Court sentenced the former head of state to 15 months in prison for contempt of justice for repeatedly refusing to testify in corruption investigations.
Possible review penalty
This is the first time that a former president of the country has been imprisoned. Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018. But his tenure has been overshadowed by allegations of corruption.
Initially, it was decided that Zuma would be brought to prison on Sunday evening at the latest. But the former president made several attempts to overturn this decision. South Africa’s Supreme Court will also hear Zuma’s request to overturn his prison sentence on July 12.
According to South African media, lawyers for the 79-year-old former president argue that the prison sentence is life-threatening, given his poor health. Therefore, he is eligible to review the ruling, they say.
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