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Former South African President Jacob Zuma will finish serving his sentence at home for health reasons

2021-09-06T15:49:06.017Z


He entered prison in July after being sentenced to 15 months for refusing to testify before the court investigating him for corruption and the authorities slip that he may be living his “last days”


Jacob Zuma will not enter his cell again to serve the thirteen months that remain of the fifteen months of his sentence for contempt. He will do it at home after benefiting from medical probation because, according to the authorities, he cannot fend for himself. The ex-president was sentenced after refusing up to three times to appear before the judge investigating his alleged involvement in 16 corruption cases during his tenure. The jail time coincided with the worst riots in the country since

apartheid

times

.

It has not caught anyone by surprise, it was a predictable and almost announced gesture since more than three weeks ago the former South African president between 2008 and 2018 left the medical wing of Estcourt prison, where he entered in July, to undergo surgery.

Shortly after, hospital sources announced that he was undergoing a routine medical check-up that has resulted in the announcement, last Sunday, that when he is discharged he will not return to prison.

More information

  • South Africa keeps its wounds open

  • Former South African President Jacob Zuma goes to prison to serve a 15-month sentence

"The medical probation for Mr. Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in a community system, where he must comply with a series of conditions that will be monitored until his sentence expires," explained the statement from the prison authorities. The 79-year-old former president still has 13 months of punishment ahead of him but, according to the Correctional Service spokesman, he may be facing his “last days” of life.

Shortly after the decision was made public, without details about the illness or ailments of the former president, nor about the content of the medical reports received by the prison authorities, nor about the conditions to which he must submit, the incisive presenters of the private television ENCA they tried to find out with direct questions "how is it possible that Zuma has gone in less than a month from a routine medical check-up to a terminal situation".

"The specialists do their job and then suggest what the person needs, the treatment to follow so that stabilization is achieved, so that he recovers completely and can return to prison (...) The reports received on the situation Mr. Zuma clearly show that he is someone who for medical reasons needs some care and cannot help himself.

(…) He must receive the care and comfort of the family, surrounded by what may be the last days of that person.

It is the dignity that anyone deserves, ”argued Singabakho Nxumalo, a spokesman for the Correctional Service.

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Crucial moment

The medical parole decision comes at a crucial political moment for the country. The African National Congress (ANC), in power since Nelson Mandela won the first post-apartheid elections in 1994, has failed to present candidates for municipal elections, scheduled for the end of October, in at least 30 localities (many of them in the provinces of Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal, two of its main fiefdoms) and is pending the resolution of the Electoral Commission to extend the term. In addition, last Friday it suffered a severe setback when the South African justice refused to postpone the elections due to difficulties generated by Covid-19, and they remain between October 27 and November 1.

And the last open front is the final report of the Zondo Commission after three years of work. He investigates "state capture" (the influence of individuals and companies in the public sector for their benefit) during the years when current President Cyril Ramaphosa was vice president of the ANC. “Specific accusations have been made against leaders of the movement and there is a push to link these accusations to the CNA, to portray the corrupt and incompetent party and government. We need to be prepared to address the situation and develop concise messages before the report is published, ”Ramaphosa told the National Executive Committee last week.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-09-06

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