In a historic ruling, South Africa’s top court on Tuesday handed former South African president Jacob Zuma a 15-month jail term for “egregious” contempt of court after he refused to appear before graft investigators.
Zuma was told to turn himself in within five days, or police would be ordered to arrest him and take him to jail.
The scathing ruling sets a precedent for South Africa — and a benchmark for the continent — by jailing a former head of state for failing to respond to a corruption probe.
Photo: Reuters
“Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court,” South African Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe said.
“No person is above the law,” she said, decrying Zuma’s “egregious affront on judicial integrity, the rule of law and the constitution.”
Zuma, 79, is accused of enabling the plunder of state coffers during his nine years in office, which ended calamitously in February 2018 when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) forced him out.
Before he left office, he responded to mounting pressure and set up an investigative commission, headed by South African Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The commission hailed the verdict, saying that the sentence sends an “important message” that there are “serious consequences for anyone who defies summonses and orders of courts ... no matter what the person’s status is in society.”
The panel has encountered years of resistance from Zuma.
He only testified once, in July 2019, before staging a walkout days later and accusing Zondo of bias.
He then ignored several invitations to reappear, in some cases citing medical reasons and preparations for another corruption trial.
He presented himself again briefly in November last year, but left before questioning and then ignored a court order to return to face the panel, forcing an exasperated Zondo to ask the court to intervene for contempt.
“This kind of recalcitrance and defiance is unlawful and will be punished,” Khampepe said.
“I am left with no option, but to commit Mr Zuma to imprisonment, with the hope that doing so sends an unequivocal message... The rule of law and the administration of justice prevails,” she added.
Khampepe said that Zuma, as a former South African president, was aware of the law, yet placed himself “in blatant violation” of a court order, before declaring “an unsuspended” 15-month prison sentence.
She ordered Zuma to hand himself over to the police in Johannesburg or in Nkandla, a rural town in southeastern Kwa-Zulu Natal Province where he has a home, within five calendar days.
If he fails to turn himself in, police “must within three calendar days of the expiry stipulated of the period” take all steps to make sure he “is delivered to a correctional center” to start the sentence, she said.
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