South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has lost a court bid to overturn his arrest for contempt of court. The 79-year-old leader will now remain behind bars.
Zuma’s lawyers had approached the High Court last weekend asking it to immediately stop the former leader’s arrest after the Constitutional Court sentenced him to 15 months in jail for contempt of court.
“The application is dismissed with costs,” Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Bhekisisa Mnguni said in his judgment on Friday.
Zuma was found guilty by the Constitutional Court of “deliberately” refusing to appear before a judicial commission probing alleged corruption during his nearly decade in power.
In the rare ruling, the Constitutional Court had ordered the former president to surrender himself to the Nkandla police station near his home or the Johannesburg Central Police Station within five days.
“It is common cause that in this country there is no higher authority than the Constitutional Court, and that its decisions cannot be undermined by a lower court,” Judge Bhekisisa Mnguni said in his ruling.
In a bid to avoid humiliation, Zuma handed over himself on Wednesday night to officials at the Estcourt correctional services facility in the KwaZulu-Natal Province where he will serve a 15-month prison term.
This marks the first time in democratic South Africa’s history that a former president has been sent to prison.
The Constitutional Court will decide on Monday whether to rescind or reduce the jail term against Zuma as it listens to his appeal.
– Protests
Earlier in the day, supporters of the former president blocked roads in parts of the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, calling for his immediate release.
“People are saying they will protest until President Jacob Zuma is released from Prison,” Nkosentsha Shezi, a Zuma supporter and businessman, told local broadcaster Enca.
Local media also reported that protesters looted a large chain store in KwaMashu near the port city of Durban. Police said protesters broke a gate of the store and grabbed boxes of groceries.
Municipal workers in the eThekwini municipality in Durban also reportedly joined the protest, according to local media, with protesters using garbage trucks to blockade roads.
In a statement, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said it has noted the “righteous anger” of the people of South Africa, which others have characterized as violence.
Source: Anadolu Agency