South Africa’s ex-President Jacob Zuma escapes prison again

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was sent back to prison – for an hour. Accustomed to legal gymnastics, Zuma didn’t even need to contort himself to escape detention this time. Following a court ruling declaring his release on parole in September 2021 to be illegal, the former president turned himself in at Estcourt Prison, in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday, August 11. In theory, he should have served the remainder of a 15-month prison sentence for contempt. He was subsequently released thanks to the remission of his sentence, announced to widespread surprise.

During a press conference announcing the measure on August 11, the South African authorities tried to convince the press that the 81-year-old former South African president did not receive any special treatment. On the contrary, said the justice minister and the national commissioner for correctional services, “the law has taken its course with regards to the former President Zuma,” who was sent back to prison in accordance with a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Officially, therefore, it was a mere coincidence of timing that the implementation of a collective sentence remission program signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa was published in the government gazette on the same day as the former president’s return to prison, making Zuma one of the very first beneficiaries of this measure aimed at combating prison overcrowding. “The president’s decision is to remit sentences of offenders across the country. It is not a specific decision about former president Zuma,” insisted Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, underlining Ramaphosa’s commitment to respecting the constitution.

“Free at last,” exulted the former South African president in a short video posted on his daughter Duduzile Zuma’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account after the announcement. Zuma’s remission brings to a close two years of legal action following his sentencing in late June 2021 to 15 months in prison for refusing to testify before a commission of inquiry into the massive corruption that characterized his term in office.