Breaking News: ConCourt finds Jacob Zuma guilty, sentenced to 15 months imprisonment
Former South African president, Jacob Zuma has been found guilty of being in contempt of court by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
This comes after Zuma failed to comply with an earlier order in February to obey the Zondo commission’s summons to appear and give evidence.
Zuma said earlier in the year that he would rather go to prison than appear at the Zondo commission. Justice Sisi Khampepe handed down the judgment on Tuesday morning.
Khampepe said during the judgment, ” It was the applicant case that Mr Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court. His non-compliance with a court order was undeniable because he failed to appear and give evidence before the commission. Mr Zuma did not oppose this application, nor did he file any submissions.”
“Never before has the authority and the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court has come under the level of attack as it has from Mr Zuma,” she further said.
The ConCourt justices strongly condemned Zuma’s “outlandish statements” and found that the only reasonable sentence was an unsuspended sentence of 15 months imprisonment.
Breaking News: ConCourt finds Jacob Zuma guilty, sentenced to 15 months imprisonment
Meanwhile, Zuma’s supporters secured his Nkandla home ahead of Tuesday’s judgment. The MKMVA (Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association) battalion that has been stationed outside the rural home since late March was in high spirits.
They were heard singing Struggle songs from the tent they use as their base. Some of them were seen outside parading. Zuma’s most vocal son, Edward Zuma, did not say anything about the pending sentencing.
Zuma’s run-in with the court started in December last year when the Zondo Commission, which is probing allegations of corruption during his nine-year rule, approached the court to ask it to compel him to appear and answer all questions posed to him.
The order was granted but Zuma decided to defy the court, alleging that the commission and the court were victimising him through exceptional and harsh treatment and that both institutions were politicising the law to his detriment.
The secretary of the commission, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, then asked the court to penalise him with contempt of court. On the same day, Zuma issued another long statement and said that he had taken a political position not to take part in the matter because the judiciary was engaged in political battles against him.