Cases of corruption and gender-based violence were opened against President Cyril Ramaphosa by known supporters of former president Jacob Zuma. Photo: GCIS / Flickr
‘Now we can move forward’ – Ramaphosa on Zuma’s ‘release’
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is pleased Jacob Zuma has officially been released from the correctional services system
Cases of corruption and gender-based violence were opened against President Cyril Ramaphosa by known supporters of former president Jacob Zuma. Photo: GCIS / Flickr
President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed relief following news of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma being released from the correctional services system on the expiry of his contempt of court sentence on Friday, 7 October 2022.
Ramaphosa made the remarks on Saturday, 8 October 2022, during the party’s Letsema campaign in Welkom, Free State. He was asked to weigh in on Zuma’s release.
Zuma was sentenced to 15 months behind bars by the Constitutional Court in July 2021. This was after he was found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to make an appearance before the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, as was ordered by the same court. Zuma was jailed at the Estcourt Correctional Centre on 8 July 2021 and was subsequently placed on medical parole on 5 September 2021 “due to the seriousness of his illness”.
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RAMAPHOSA ‘PLEASED’ BY ZUMA’S RELEASE
President Cyril Ramaphosa says as the ANC, they are pleased to know Jacob Zuma has officially been freed.
Ramaphosa has described Zuma’s imprisonment as a chapter they can now close and move forward from.
“Of course all of us are relieved and are pleased that former president Jacob Zuma’s connection with prison services is over. The 15 months is over and that, as I have heard, has brought a great deal of relief to him but so does it to us as the ANC. We are very pleased that that chapter is behind us and now we can move forward,” he said.
The former Statesman could still go back to jail as the Democratic Alliance (DA), Helen Suzman Foundation and others challenged his medical parole and sought to have the decision by former Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser reviewed and set aside.
The Helen Suzman Foundation had also argued that the time Zuma spent outside of jail should not be counted as part of the 15-month sentence. It is not yet clear whether the Supreme Court of Appeal will uphold an earlier ruling which declared that the parole should not have been granted.
