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| Former South African President Jacob Zuma |
South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma
has been found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months in prison
for defying a court order to appear before an inquiry probing wide-ranging
allegations of corruption during his tenure from 2009 to 2018, NPR reports.
According to the report, Zuma was not in
court for the ruling on Tuesday and has been ordered to hand himself over
within five days to a police station in his hometown of Nkandla in
KwaZulu-Natal province or in Johannesburg. If Zuma fails to turn himself in
within five days South Africa's minister of police and the police commissioner
have been ordered to take him into custody within three days.
"The
Constitutional Court can do nothing but conclude that Mr Zuma is guilty of the
crime of contempt of court," Judge Sisi Khampepe said. "This kind of
recalcitrance and defiance is unlawful and will be punished. I am left with no
option but to commit Mr Zuma to imprisonment, with the hope that doing so sends
an unequivocal message... the rule of law and the administration of justice
prevails. The majority judgement orders an unsuspended sentence of imprisonment
for a period (of 15 months)," she declared.
Zuma, 79, is accused of enabling the plunder of state coffers during his nearly nine-year stay in office.
Zuma was facing an inquiry probing
wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his tenure from 2009 to 2018,
according to Hindustan’s report. The
Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma defied an order by the country’s highest
court by refusing to cooperate with the commission of inquiry, chaired by
deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo.
For the first time in South African
history, a former president has been sentenced to a prison term.
However, Zuma has denied wrongdoing and
says the allegations against him are part of a smear campaign.
Among several
allegations according to Hindustan reports, Zuma is accused of allowing three
businessmen brothers -Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta- to plunder state resources
and influence policy. The Guptas have denied any wrongdoing but left South
Africa after Zuma’s ouster, which was orchestrated by the allies of his
successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
But then France24
captures the situation with a different twist “The commission of inquiry is
headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. The panel was set up by Zuma
himself, under pressure over mounting scandals, shortly before he was ousted in
2018 by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). But he only testified once,
in July 2019, before staging a walkout days later and accusing the commission's
Zondo of bias. He then ignored several invitations to reappear, citing medical
reasons and preparations for another corruption trial. He presented himself
again briefly in November but left before questioning, and Zondo asked to ask
the Constitutional Court to intervene. Most of the graft investigated by the
commission involve three brothers from a wealthy Indian business family, the
Guptas, who won lucrative government contracts and were allegedly even able to
choose cabinet ministers.
Back to present, Zuma
had sent a 21-page letter to the country's chief justice in which he claimed to
have been treated unfairly. Commenting on the letter, the judge said that the
former president attempts to "evoke public sympathy through unfounded
allegations fly in the face of reason. If his conduct is met with impunity, he
will do significant damage to the rule of law," she added.
Zuma, according to the
report is separately facing 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering
relating to a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear
from five European arms firms for 30 billion rand, then the equivalent of
nearly $5 billion. At the time of the purchase, Zuma was President Thabo
Mbeki's deputy. He is accused of accepting bribes totaling four million rand
from one of the firms, French defense giant Thales.
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