Jacob Zuma, Former South African President Spends First Night In Jail

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in African News July 8, 2021

Former South African President Jacob Zuma turned himself in recently to serve his 15-month jail sentence according to officials. Prison authorities confirmed that Zuma has been admitted to start serving his sentence at Estcourt Correctional Centre. The facility is located in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

It is the first time for a former president to be jailed in post-apartheid South Africa. Turning himself in after days of refusing to do so ended an impasse that had gripped the country, on top of the brutal third Covid-19 wave.

The Constitutional Court handed Zuma the sentence last week for snubbing anti-graft investigators. It also set a benchmark for the continent, by jailing a former head of state for refusal to respond to a corruption probe.

Earlier on Wednesday, the police warned they would arrest Zuma by a midnight deadline to enforce the ruling. The only condition that would have saved him would be the top court instructing otherwise, something that didn’t happen. In the end, the former leader resolved to make his own way to prison.

A few minutes before the deadline expired on Wednesday night, his foundation tweeted about Zuma turning himself in. They said he decided to comply with the incarceration order and hand himself to a correctional facility.

A convoy believed to be carrying Zuma drove out of his homestead at high speed about 40 minutes before the cutoff time. Zuma’s daughter tweeted that her father maintained his high spirits and that he hoped they still had some overalls from Robben Island.

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