South Africa high court sends former president Zuma back to jail

The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that disgraced former President Jacob Zuma must return to prison.

Zuma was jailed in July after refusing to give testimony to corruption investigators, a ruling which sparked violent protests claiming over 350 lives. Michele Spatari AFP/File

Justice K.E. Motojane found the medical parole granted to Zuma last September was unlawful.

Medical parole

He ruled that none of the time Zuma was on medical parole will count as time served for early release on his 15-month sentence for contempt of court.

Zuma was jailed last  11th July for failing to appear as ordered before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, which is South African argot for corruption.

Today’s ruling is a legal slap in the face for former Correctional Service head Arthur Fraser who released Zuma on medical grounds, overruling the medical parole board that found Zuma was not eligible for early release on health ground.

The court found Fraser’s action irrational.

Zuma And Fraser are ordered to pay the costs of the action brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation, right-wing pressure group Afriforum and the official opposition party the Democratic Alliance.

• Former South African leader Jacob Zuma released from prison on medical parole

Rule of Law

DA leader John Steenhuisen said: "We welcome the order that Mr Zuma’s medical parole be revoked immediately, that he be returned to the custody of Correctional Services to serve out the remainder of his sentence, that no time spent on medical parole is to be counted as time served and that he and Mr Arthur Fraser pay all legal costs.”

He said the DA recognises the rule of law.

"If we allow these to slide, we will severely weaken the foundation of our constitutional democracy. We are greatly encouraged by the firm and unambiguous position taken by Justice KE Matojane in this regard," he said.

The Suzman Foundation said in its tweet that the ruling is a victory for the rule of law, although it is sure Zuma will appeal the judgment.

• Ex-South African President Jacob Zuma turns himself in to serve prison sentence

Security fears

Zuma’s supporters, on the other hand, vowed to put their bodies on the line to prevent the former president going back to jail.

The ANC has played a straight bat to the ruling, It declared on twitter that Correctional Services is expected to issue a statement on the development and they were awaiting this pronouncement.

The ruling raised security concerns because demonstrations against the jailing of Zuma in July, which are widely believed to have given rise to the sporadic opportunistic looting that trashed buildings and caused losses of billions of rands to businesses in the commercial capital Johannesburg and Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu/Natal.