South Africa’s apex court on Tuesday handed a 15-month jail term to the country’s former president, Jacob Zuma, for contempt of court after he was found guilty of defying a court order to appear at a corruption inquiry earlier this year, reported Reuters.
The 79-year-old Zuma failed to appear before the inquiry led by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo in February, and the inquiry’s lawyers approached the court to seek an order for his imprisonment.
“The Constitutional Court can do nothing but conclude that Mr. Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court,” acting Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe said in a ruling in Johannesburg on Tuesday. “Mr. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is sentenced to undergo 15 months imprisonment.”
The court has ordered Zuma to hand himself over within five days to a police station in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, his hometown, or in Johannesburg.
The judge said that if Zuma fails to submit himself before the police then the police must within three calendar days of the expiry stipulated of the period take all steps to make sure he is delivered to a correctional center to start the sentence.
This is the first time in South Africa’s history that a former president has been sentenced to a prison term.
Among several allegations, Zuma is accused of allowing three businessmen brothers -Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh Gupta- to exploit state resources and influence policy. The Gupta brothers have denied any wrongdoing but left the country after Zuma was forced to step down as South Africa’s president by the allies of his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma has also denied wrongdoing and has so far not cooperated. He only testified once, in July 2019, before staging walkout days later and accusing Zondo of bias. He ignored several calls to reappear before the inquiry commission, in some cases citing medical reasons and preparations for another corruption trial.
Zuma presented himself before the Zondo commission in November last year but left before questioning and then ignored a court order to return to the panel.
