- The Constitutional
Court did not grant the Department of Correctional Services leave to
appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) decision that former president
Jacob Zuma must go back to jail. - The SCA upheld the High
Court ruling that former prison boss Arthur Fraser’s decision to grant
Zuma medical parole was unlawful. - Zuma received a
15-month sentence for defying the Constitutional Court’s order to appear
before the Zondo Commission, but only served two months before Fraser
released him.
The Constitutional Court has
dismissed the Department of Correctional Services’ application for leave to
appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling that former president Jacob Zuma
must go back to prison.
In the ruling handed down on
Thursday, the apex court found the department’s appeal “bears no
reasonable prospect of success” and dismissed the application with costs.
Zuma missed the deadline to appeal the SCA ruling but
filed an application for leave to intervene.
The apex court dismissed this,
also with costs, as there would not be an appeal.
Zuma was jailed in July 2021 for
15 months for contempt of the Constitutional Court after he refused to obey an
order to appear before the Zondo Commission.
However, hardly two months
later, he was released on medical parole after the then-national commissioner
of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, overruled the Medical Parole Advisory
Board’s (MPAB) recommendation that the former president did not qualify for it.
The DA, AfriForum and Helen
Suzman Foundation asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to review Fraser’s
decision and set it aside.
Judge Elias Matojane found the
decision was unlawful.
READ | Jacob Zuma must go back to jail
and prison bosses must ‘lawfully’ decide on his release – appeal court
He ordered that Zuma should
return to prison to complete the 15-month sentence.
In December 2021, Matojane found
an error of law influenced Fraser into believing he was entitled to grant
medical parole to Zuma, when the MPAB found the former president did not meet
the necessary requirements.
Matojane said Zuma’s return to
prison would “not impact him unfairly, as there is no suggestion that he
is an innocent party”.
The judge added the former
president had defied the Zondo Commission, judiciary, and rule of law, and was
resolute in his refusal to participate in the commission’s proceedings.
Matojane also stated Zuma
continued to “attack the Constitutional Court while unlawfully benefitting
from a lesser punishment than what the Constitutional Court has imposed”.
He granted Zuma and the
department leave to appeal his ruling, and they took the matter to the SCA.
But in a unanimous judgment
written by Judge Tati Makgoka, the SCA agreed with the High Court that Fraser’s
decision was unlawful and unconstitutional.
This meant Zuma “has not
finished serving his sentence” for contempt of the Constitutional Court,
the SCA found.
It said:
He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre to do so. Whether the time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration, is not a matter for this court to decide.
“It is a matter to be
considered by the commissioner [Makgothi Thobakgale]. If he is empowered by law
to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining
any application or grounds for release.”
After the Constitutional Court’s
decision was handed down, the department said in a statement it was
“studying the Constitutional Court judgment for the review application in
relation to the medical parole placement for the former president, Mr Jacob
Zuma”.
“DCS [Department of
Correctional Services] is seeking legal advice and will comment further in due
course,” the statement read.
JG Zuma Foundation spokesperson
EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi referred all enquiries on the ruling to the department.
“It is not my intention to
hijack the DCS space in the public discourse,” he said in a message to the
media.
ALSO READ | Zuma praises Fraser for saving his
life, tells ConCourt he ‘faced death itself in prison’
In November last year, when
asked at a media briefing about his health, Zuma reportedly responded:
“What’s wrong with the health, just tell me, what’s wrong with the health?
Looking at me, am I in the bed lying in a hospital?”
Last week, he visited Victoria
Falls in Zimbabwe, where he gave a “special address” to the first African
Voluntary Carbon Credits Market Forum and posed with a giant
cheque for a donation of two million “emission reduction units”.
Zuma was representing an
organisation called the Africa Belarus Trade Organisation, on whose board he
serves.
The former president was
represented by advocate Dali Mpofu SC in this court case.
Meanwhile, DA leader John
Steenhuisen welcomed the ruling as a victory for the country’s rule of
law.
He said the party’s legal team
would write to Zuma to ask that he surrender himself to the authorities.
Steenhuisen added the DA would
escalate its letter to the commissioner of correctional services, Makgothi
Samuel Thobakgale, should the former president fail to comply.
“Should Mr Zuma fail to
adhere to this request, we will write to the national commissioner for correctional
services, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, calling for him to arrest Mr Zuma and return
him to [the] Estcourt Correctional Centre. If either party fails to comply,
they will be in contempt of court,” he said.
Steenhuisen added the ruling
served as a reminder for corrupt leaders in the ruling party abuse of medical
parole and violence would not undermine the rule of law.
Also on Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled
against another of Mpofu’s clients, when it upheld President Cyril Ramaphosa’s
suspension of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
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