Former President Jacob South Africa’s Zuma Who was shown here in 2019 was found guilty of contempt of court.
Michele Spatari II / AP
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Michele Spatari II / AP
Former President Jacob South Africa’s Zuma Who was shown here in 2019 was found guilty of contempt of court.
Michele Spatari II / AP
Johannesburg – Former President Jacob South Africa’s Zuma was found guilty of contempt of court And was sentenced to 15 months in prison for violating a court order to appear before a broader investigation into corruption allegations during his tenure from 2009 to 2018.
Zuma was not in court for Tuesday’s hearing. He was ordered to turn himself in within five days to a police station in his hometown of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province. or in Johannesburg
If Zuma does not return within five days The South African police minister and the police commissioner will be ordered to take him into custody within three days.
This is the first time in South African history that a former president has been jailed.
supreme court of the country Constitutional Court It ruled that Zuma had violated the country’s highest court order by refusing to cooperate with the investigative committee. which has Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Son Do is the chairman.
“The Constitutional Court has ruled that there is no doubt that Mr Zuma is insulting the court. Mr Zuma was ordered and it was impossible to draw any conclusions other than that he was fully aware of what he wanted. Acting Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe said.
She added that in the jail sentence for Zuma, the court found it impossible to conclude that he would comply with any other order.
“Mr Zuma has repeatedly said that he would rather be jailed than to cooperate with the commission or carry out orders,” Campepe said.
Zuma has previously expressed his reluctance to appear before the commission. which so far has heard evidence directly related to Zuma in the wrongdoing.
In a 21-page letter to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, which the court described as “Scandal” Zuma claimed he was ready to be sent to prison.
In his public letter, Zuma claimed that the commission chairman Zondo was biased against him and that the evidence presented to him was politically motivated.
some former ministers senior civil servant and some state-owned enterprise executives were among witnesses implicating Zuma in corruption.
Many have testified that while President Zuma allows controversial Gupta family members to influence ministerial appointments and lucrative contracts in state-owned companies.
Zuma also faces additional legal issues. He is on trial for facing allegations related to bribes he allegedly received during a South African arms purchase deal in 1999.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers have petitioned the primary prosecutor in his case to resign from his post on charges of bias against Zuma.
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