jacob zuma russia

Will Jacob Zuma go back to jail to finish his sentence? Image: Jerome Delay / POOL / AFP

Jacob Zuma ‘ill’ and receiving medical attention in Russia

Following the ruling that Jacob Zuma must go back to prison, his foundation confirmed that he is in Russia for health reasons.

jacob zuma russia

Will Jacob Zuma go back to jail to finish his sentence? Image: Jerome Delay / POOL / AFP

The Jacob Zuma Foundation has confirmed that its patron the former president is receiving medical attention in Russia.

Zuma reportedly travelled to Russia last week.

JACOB ZUMA ILL IN RUSSIA

The foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said Zuma will come back to South Africa once his doctors have completed their treatment.

Manyi said although the trip was private, it was not secret as it was suggested.

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Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court dismissed Zuma’s application for leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgement confirming that a decision by former National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser’s decision to place him on medical parole was unlawful and set aside. 

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in June 2021, after he failed to appear before the Zondo Commission on state capture during his presidency.

Zuma began serving his sentence at the end of July 2021, but was released on medical parole on 5 September 2021. The then National Commissioner for Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, approved the medical parole even though the medical parole board found that Zuma did not qualify for medical parole. 

jacob zuma russia
HAMBURG, GERMANY – JULY 7, 2017: South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, and Mexico’s president Enrique Pena Nieto (L-R front) at the first meeting of G20 leaders (working breakfast) on the first day of the G20 summit in Hamburg; left back: South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane. Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS (Photo by Mikhail KlimentyevTASS via Getty Images)

DA WANTS FORMER PRESIDENT JAILED

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen said this judgement confirms that Zuma belongs in jail, and that his vexatious litigation was a last desperate attempt to evade justice.

Steenhuisen said should Zuma fail to adhere to this request, they will write to the National Commissioner for Correctional Services, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale calling for him to arrest Zuma, and return him to Estcourt Correctional Centre. 

ALSO READ: Siblings who killed and mutilated their mother during a ‘religious ritual’ abandon bail

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