The former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma has finally presented himself to the police to start serving a 15-month jail term after being tried by the country’s Constitutional Court.
Prison authorities confirmed that Zuma “has been admitted to start serving a 15 months sentence at Estcourt Correctional Centre” in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is the first time a former president has been jailed in post-apartheid South Africa.
The former President who is facing corruption charges was ordered to report to the police within 5 days to start his sentence.
The sentence has a “direct” one and Jacob Zuma has been denied all options for bail which means he must serve the sentence unless he flees the country. He has been sentenced for contempt of court even as his other case proceeds against him.
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Zuma was to be arrested on Wednesday after he refused to hand himself in within the 5 days that had been provided by the court. He was to hand himself in on Sunday latest but refused. Sources said he was trying to negotiate for his freedom.
In a short statement, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said the former president had “decided to comply with the incarceration order” and hand himself into prison authorities. His daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, later wrote on Twitter that her father was “en route [to the jail] and he is still in high spirits”.
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