South Africa’s Supreme Court has ruled that former President Jacob Zuma should return to prison to finish his sentence for contempt of court.
The court said the decision to release Zuma on early medical parole was unlawful.
Zuma was sentenced in 2021 to 15 months’ imprisonment after ignoring a court order to testify at a government inquiry into widespread corruption during his time as president.
Zuma was released on medical parole in September 2021 after only serving a fraction of the sentence.
However, in December, the high court set aside the parole decision and ordered him to return to jail.
The ex-president had appealed the ruling but the judgement was delivered on Monday after the department of correctional services said in October that his prison sentence has finished.
The court took issue with the department’s claim that Zuma’s sentence had ended when the appeal was still being heard.
It also found that the decision by the former national commissioner of correctional services to grant Zuma medical parole against the advice of the Medical Parole Advisory Board, a specialist body, was unlawful.
Reuters