Disgraced ex-president Jacob Zuma spends Christmas at home

This week, Zuma was given leave to appeal a Pretoria High Court ruling that he return to jail because the medical parole granted him less than two months into his 15-month sentence for contempt of court was unlawful.

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

For a man wearing a prisoner’s orange jump suit only five months ago, former President Jacob Zuma now appears to have the wind in his sails.

Zuma is spending Christmas at his super-secure home Nkandla.

That security, along with a number of luxury features, were provided from the public purse during his nine-year presidency.

The gates to his residence were manned by veteran fighters of the liberation war against the apartheid regime and by personnel of the South African Police Service.

"Glorious years"

Supporters gathered there on Christmas Eve to celebrate what they call his "glorious years at the helm."

They say his presidency advanced the economic standing of black South Africans but complain that this trend is now being reversed.

His detractors within the party refer to his tenure as "nine wasted years" and maintain that much of the economic malaise can be ascribed to corruption that has become endemic within the ANC.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ruling party’s top echelon is considering a request by the ANC leadership in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu/Natal to come out openly in support of the disgraced former president.

Proud father

Zuma also celebrated the election of his son Duduzane as chairperson the ANC branch in Durban, possibly a first step on the way to become a Council president in the future.

WATCH: Former President Jacob Zuma congratulates his son, Duduzane Zuma, for being elected as chair of his branch in Durban. He told his son that "we all started there" and "ended somewhere up." This is in apparent reference to the fact that Duduzane wants to lead the ANC. @IOL pic.twitter.com/Uah9GSfOFf

— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) December 21, 2021

The Supreme Court of Appeal did not set a date for the next hearing.

It is expectd that Zuma's counsel will argue that the time he spent on medical parole will count as time served, making him eligible for the ordinary parole prisoners may receive after serving a third of their sentence.