On Monday, November 21, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal declared that the decision to grant former president Jacob Zuma early medical parole was “illegal” and that he should go back to prison to complete his term for contempt of court.
After he disobeyed a court order to testify at a government investigation into widespread corruption during his almost decade-long presidency, which ended in 2018 with the election of incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison last year.
Zuma was granted medical parole in September 2021 after completing a portion of his term. However, the supreme court overturned the parole judgement in December and mandated that he be sent back to prison.
A month after the Department of Correctional Services announced that Zuma’s prison sentence had ended, the court’s decision—which was the result of his appeal—was announced on Monday.
“In other words, Mr. Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Escourt Correctional center to do so,” the Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgment read.
The department’s assertion that Zuma’s sentence had already been served while the appeal was being heard was disputed by the court.
Additionally, it determined that it was illegal for the former national commissioner of correctional services to give Zuma medical parole notwithstanding the expert body’s advice.
“On any conceivable basis, the commissioner’s decision was unlawful and unconstitutional. The high court was correct to set it aside,” the judgment said.
