Thu 08 July 2021:
Former President Jacob Zuma has handed himself over to police.
The Police Ministry has confirmed that the former president has been “placed in the custody of the South African Police Service, in compliance with the Constitutional Court judgement”.
“Dear South Africans and the World. Please be advised that President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order,” the Jacob Zuma Foundation said on its official Twitter handle.
Dear South Africans and the World.
Please be advised that President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order.
He is on his way to hand himself into a Correctional Services Facility in KZN.
A full statement will be issued in due course.#WenzenuZuma— JGZuma Foundation (Official) (@JGZ_Foundation) July 7, 2021
It added that Zuma, 79, is on his way to hand himself into a correctional services facility in KwaZulu-Natal, his home province.
The foundation said it would issue a full statement in due course.
Police Minister Bheki Cele was given until Midnight on Wednesday to enforce a Constitutional Court order to arrest the former president.
This, after Zuma failed to hand himself over by the deadline on Sunday.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court last week sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison for contempt of court in an unprecedented ruling.
He was found guilty of “deliberately” refusing to appear before a judicial commission probing corruption during his nearly decade in power.
In the rare ruling, the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma to hand himself over to correctional services officials in five days or face arrest.
This marks the first time in democratic South Africa’s history that a former president has been sent to prison.
Experts say Zuma’s decision to hand himself in was aimed at avoiding bloodshed and instability in the country.
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