The South African prison service, which had decided last year to release former president Jacob Zuma on medical grounds, announced on Wednesday that it was challenging a court decision to send the former president back to prison.
The Department of Correctional Services said that "having carefully studied the judgment [it] is satisfied that another court may reach a different conclusion." It will thus move to have the Court of Appeal’s decision overturned, it said.
Zuma, 80, finished serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court last month. He was convicted in June 2021 for refusing to testify before a commission investigating corruption during his presidency (2009-2018).
His imprisonment the following month triggered an unprecedented wave of violence and looting, in a tense socio-economic context, leaving more than 350 dead.
Two months later, he was released on health grounds and placed under judicial supervision. The head of the prison service had granted him parole against the advice of the prison’s medical committee.
The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that the early release was contrary to the law and that Zuma should be returned to Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal. The Bloemfontein-based court is the second highest court in South Africa after the Constitutional Court.
Supporters of the former head of state denounced the Supreme Court of Appeal's decision. “This is an act of injustice. It is nothing but an exercise in cruelty and degrading punishment,” the Jacob Zuma Foundation said.
The state of the former president’s health remains largely opaque. According to multiple medical reports submitted to the court, he suffers from blood pressure problems, high blood sugar and severe colon damage.
In recent weeks he has appeared in public several times, dancing and singing before his supporters.
