Former SA President Jacob ZumaPicture: Oupa Mokoena
Former South African president, Jacob Zuma, and the rest of the country, will know by next week if the former statesman will head back to jail to complete his prison sentence.
On Friday, the Department of Correctional Services confirmed that it had received representations from relevant parties regarding the incarceration of former state president Jacob Zuma.
"The next phase is for the national commissioner, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, to consider every material received, the Judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal and prescripts within the space of Corrections. Commissioner Thobakgale is to make his decision on or before August 10 and it will be communicated publicly," said department spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo.
In July, the Constitutional Court dismissed an application by the Department of Correctional Services for leave to appeal a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal on whether or not Zuma should go back to jail.
In the ruling, the court found that the appeal bore no reasonable prospect of success and dismissed the application with costs.
Zuma was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in 2021 on a charge of contempt of court after he failed to appear before the Zondo Commission. His jailing then sparked unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng with businesses looted and burned and over 350 people killed.
Two months following his incarceration, Zuma was released on medical parole by former national commissioner of DCS, Arthur Fraser.
Zuma has meanwhile returned from Russia where he was undergoing medical treatment.
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