Zuma, Correctional Services have until Wednesday to file papers to challenge High Court judgment

Former President Jacob Zuma’s legal team and the Department of Correctional Services have until next Wednesday to file papers in the Supreme Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court judgment which declared Zuma’s release on medical parole unlawful and irrational.

Respondents, who include the Helen Suzman Foundation, have until the first of July to file their opposing papers in the SCA.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment by the Constitutional Court for contempt of court after he breached its earlier order to abide by the State Capture Commission’s summons to appear before it.

Zuma was imprisoned at the Escourt Correctional Services Facility for 15 months.

However, former Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser released him on medical parole in less than two months against the recommendation of the Medical Parole Advisory Board.

High Court Judge Elias Matojane said the matter needed the attention of the SCA to bring certainty to the interpretation of the Correctional Services Act and its regulations.

Prison

In 2021, the High Court in Pretoria ordered Zuma to go back to prison after setting aside his medical parole.

It has ruled that Fraser’s decision to place Zuma on medical parole was unlawful.

The court states that it is declared that the time Zuma was out of jail on medical parole should not be counted for the fulfillment of Zuma’s sentence of 15 months imposed by the Constitutional Court.

Discussion on former President Jacob Zuma’s medical parole being found unlawful with Modidima Mannya: