Jacob Zuma was expected to serve his 15-month sentence at Westville prison on Sunday, July 4 but the former president has had some luck on his side as his imprisonment was postponed.
According to IOL, the postponement comes after thousands of his supporters created a wall around his Nkandla homestead armed with machine guns and knobkieries.
Zuma was found guilty by the Constitutional Court earlier this week after failing to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Amongst his listed reasons for why he shouldn’t go to jail included his age of 79, that he was ill and was also at a high risk of getting the coronavirus. These were stated in his appeal application.
Nkandla police officers said they had a sense of relief after the news reached them as they were dreading the thought of arresting their prominent former president.
“Given the prominence of the former president and his support, it will be a mammoth task to execute any task against him. We enjoy a good relationship with the former president as his security is provided by our members. So we would not like to be in a situation where we will have to act against him,” said a high ranking police officer as reported by IOL.
“We are familiar with the president’s home. We do routine patrolling. Should he hand himself over, we will hand him over to the correctional service,“ he added.
On Saturday, July 3, the Constitutional Court stood in agreement to hear Zuma’s appeal as to why he should not be sent to jail. The case is set to be heard on July 12.
According to reports, Zuma’s foundation said that he will be addressing his supporters at 6pm on Sunday, July 4.
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Picture: Supplied