South Africa: Ex-Pres Zuma refuses to serve 15-month prison sentence, calls it 'degrading'

Jacob Zuma the former president of Capetown, South Africa constantly refuses to serve his 15 months of a prison sentence for contempt of the court on July 5, 2021. He has until Sunday to hand himself over to authorities, after which the police are ordered to arrest him. Hundreds of Zuma’s staunchest supporters have gathered outside his home in KwaZulu-Natal province, vowing to resist any police attempts to take him into custody. 

What pushed the court to sentence Zuma

South Africa's Constitutional Court, last week sentenced Jacob Zuma to prison for defying a court order that he should testify before a commission investigating allegations of rampant corruption when he was the president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. 'Jacob Zuma jailed' story has been initiated as he was suspected amid a sprawling corruption scandal during his flouring nine years of presidency in Africa. The corruption charges on Zuma forced him to retire from his post in 2018. Jacob Zuma ruled as a president in South Africa from 2009 to 2018, the duration was till 2019 but the corruption charges brought him down. 

'Jacob Zuma Jailed' story has proved Jacob's family and his other supporters to set their sail on protesting against the court, trying to defend Zuma from being arrested. Since 2018, the Zondo Commission established by Zuma has been investigating corruption and fraud in the government, and Zuma himself has been called to testify before the Commission. He has not returned to the inquiry since withdrawing on the fourth day of his testimony in July 2019. In a separate legal matter, in 2018 the High Court of South Africa backed a decision to reinstate charges from 2009 of corruption against Zuma relating to a $5bn arms deal that took place in 1990. He faces 16 counts of corruption, racketeering, fraud, and money laundering, accepting a total of 783 illegal payments.

Zuma's defence and Unlawful charges

Zuma called the sentence given by the court to be "cruel and degrading" and files an appeal on Friday asking the court to withdraw its decision. He was being forced to send to prison without trial which could be a travesty to justice, said Jacob Zuma. Hundreds of Zuma’s staunchest supporters have gathered outside his home in KwaZulu-Natal province, vowing to resist any police attempts to take him into custody. 

The growing numbers of Zuma's supporters camped out at the entrance of his compound are in defiance of the country’s COVID-19 regulations which prohibit all gatherings except funerals. The hundreds at Zuma’s home are expected to increase over the weekend. Police have not enforced the regulations outside Zuma’s home raising concerns that it may become a swift event. But many other ANC supporters and ordinary South Africans have welcomed the ruling against Zuma, saying his arrest is necessary to tackle the country’s rampant corruption. Zuma said Friday that he will make an address about his pending imprisonment over the weekend.