Africa Jacob Zuma, first former president of democratic South Africa to go to prison
Profile Zuma, the last survivor
Former South African president
Jacob Zuma
surrendered to the Police late on Wednesday, shortly before the deadline imposed by the Justice for his arrest expired after being sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt, for having repeatedly refused to testify for corruption .
"President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order. He is on his way to surrender himself to a prison services center in (the province of) KwaZulu-Natal," the Jacob Zuma Foundation confirmed in a statement issued minutes after, around At 11:15 p.m. (21:15 GMT), a large convoy of vehicles left the residence of the former head of state.
After midnight, South African Security Ministry spokesman Lirandzu Themba officially confirmed that
the former president had been taken into police "custody"
, although exact details of his location were not released.
Zuma's decision to turn himself in came after several days of uncertainty and vain
attempts by his legal team to delay the
former president's
entry into prison
.
At the same time, supporters of Zuma kept guard at his residence (in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal) since last week and threatened to confront the security forces if they came to arrest him.
PRISON FOR FAILING TO DECLARE FOR CORRUPTION
Zuma,
79
, had been sentenced on June 29 by the country's Constitutional Court to
15 months in prison
for repeatedly refusing to comply with court orders that forced him to testify before an official commission that investigates the alleged corruption that occurred during his presidency (2009-2018).
The controversial ex-governor considers that this investigation - known in South Africa as the "Capture of the State" - and the judge who leads it seek to destroy his legacy.
Zuma ignored the subpoenas
even after the Constitutional Court specified that they were mandatory.
This triggered a process for "contempt", in which the former president also refused to participate.
Far from retracting, Zuma issued several statements
assuring that he would go to jail rather than testifying
and questioning the impartiality of the South African judges.
Last week, the Constitutional Court finally handed down a 15-month prison sentence for the contempt and Zuma had until July 4 to voluntarily surrender, but two days before his lawyers urgently processed
two petitions to try to block his entry into prison
.
The first was a request to the Constitutional Court to hear the
ex-president's arguments for a rescission of the sentence
(based on arguments such as his health, his age and the alleged violation of his rights).
The highest South African court agreed and will hold a hearing on the matter on July 12.
The second route was discussed on Tuesday in the Superior Court of the town of Pietermaritzburg (lower than the Constitutional Court): a request for the arrest warrant to be suspended until the entire process was completed.
However, that court, whose jurisdiction for this case is not clear, postponed its verdict until next Friday, leaving the original imprisonment order issued by the Constitutional Court standing.
In this complicated legal context,
the Police had instructions to ensure the arrest of the former president
before the end of this Wednesday, July 7.
Although at the last minute, Zuma's lawyers sent a new letter to the Constitutional Court asking to suspend the arrest, finally
the ex-president surrendered on the edge of the deadline
, without waiting for the security forces to come to his residence to arrest him.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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