Bheki Cele and Police put Zuma’s arrest on hold until new directive notice
The Jacob Zuma scandal continues to take all sorts of twists and the new development making it to the public is that Zuma will only be arrested until further notice. The Former President was given up to 5 days to hand himself to the police after being found guilty by the ConCourt. However, in the wake of his sentencing thousand of his devoted supporters have flooded Nkandla to protect him from being taken to jail
As if that’s not enough Zuma’s legal team have also filed several cases to challenge the ConCourt ruling. It is these cases that have seen Zuma buying time from being imprisoned. In the wake of these ruling challenges, the Minister and police have released a statement in regards to his arrest.
The police have notified the acting Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo, that it will, until further notice, not arrest former president Jacob Zuma as ordered by the Constitutional Court on June 29.
In a letter dated July 5, 2021, and coming from the Office of the State Attorney, written on behalf of Police Minister Bheki Cele and national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole, the office said it has taken note that the Concourt ruled that the police should take all reasonable steps and take Zuma to jail.
Bheki Cele and Police put Zuma’s arrest on hold until new directive notice
It then noted that Zuma has since launched two court cases and directly impacted the instruction to send him to jail to start serving his 15-month sentence for contempt of court. The first court challenge Zuma launched was with the Concourt, where he is challenging his sentence without a trial.
Separately, on Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court will hear Zuma’s application to have his sentence suspended until the Concourt has considered his application.
“Our clients are fully aware that the litigation steps taken by Mr Zuma cannot be categorised as appeal processes which in usual cases would have an effect of suspending the operation of a court order…
“Given the unique situation presented by the developments and the legal matrix involved, our clients will, out of respect of the unfolding litigation the processes, hold further actions they are expected to take in terms of the Honourable Court’s orders in abeyance pending the finalisation of the litigation alternatively, pending any directions the Honourable Acting Chief Justice may issue regarding the conduct of the litigation and any other related matter relevant to the litigation.
“We trust you find the above in order and our clients will be bound by any direction which the Honourable Court may issue according to our client’s intention to hold any steps in abeyance as indicated herein,” reads the letter written on behalf of Cele.