FORMER PRESIDENT Jacob Gedleyehlekiza Zuma has been dealt another blow by the Supreme Court of Appeal to return to prison.
The handing down of the judgment was made on Monday.
The (SCA) dismissed with costs former President’s appeal against the setting aside of his medical parole by the Pretoria High Court, and ordered he returns to prison to complete the 15 months imprisonment, following the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) for contempt after he refused to testify at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
Arthur Fraser, ex- department of correctional services national commissioner, released Zuma on medical parole, a decision that was deemed ‘irrational’ and ‘unconstitutional’, according to SCA.
The former Pres and the Department of Correctional Services had appealed the high court’s ruling in December last year, which set aside the decision by Fraser, to grant him medical parole.
The application to review Zuma’s medical parole was lodged by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Helen Suzman Foundation and AfriForum.
In its unanimous judgment on Monday, the SCA confirmed the decision to grant Zuma medical parole was unlawful and invalid, upholding the earlier high court decision.
The SCA ordered that Zuma should go back to jail to complete his 15-month sentence as the high court had ruled.
After spending two months at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, the former national commissioner released Zuma on medical grounds, despite the Medical Parole Advisory Board’s recommendation not to release the former president from jail.
Simply put- he disobeyed the recommendation, and the question should be why, and what steps be taken against Fraser, legally?
It will be for prison authorities to decide whether the time the former president spent on unlawful medical parole should count as part of his 15-month contempt sentence.
“In other words, Mr Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre to do so.
“Whether time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration, is not a matter for this court to decide.
“It is a matter to be considered by the commissioner [of correctional services]. If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release,” the SCA said in its ruling.
Zuma and Correctional Services national commissioner, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, were ordered to split the costs of the DA, the HSF and AfriForum.
As expected Zuma’s fierce backers such as Carl Niehaus, Tony Yengeni, and the ANC in KZN have expressed shock at the news that uBaba must return to finish his prison term, citing “its unfair to him considering his health and age factors”.
Question is- will he or not, if not, what legal steps should follow then?
I’ve always maintained that uBaba, has and still being ill-advised, when he was still the President, and that trajectory still persists when he’s out of office. It’s a very worrying trend.
Image supplied (Scraping for answers. Former Pres JG Zuma ordered back in prison by the SCA).
