By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation has confirmed that former president Jacob Zuma is unwell and seeking medical assistance in Moscow, Russia.
The news comes just a day after the Constitutional Court on Thursday dismissed a bid to overturn the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) November 2022 ruling that the decision of former Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser to grant Zuma medical parole was unlawful and set aside.
Mzwanele Manyi, the spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, confirmed on Friday that Zuma was in Russia for medical treatment.
“He went for medical check ups. He has not been feeling well,” Manyi said. He is expected to return to South Africa next week.
In dismissing the application for leave to appeal Zuma’s medical parole, the Constitutional Court said an appeal had “no reasonable prospects of success”.
This means the November judgment of the SCA, which said: ” Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre to do so,” stands.
Zuma was jailed in July 2021 for 15 months for contempt of the Constitutional Court after he refused to obey an order to appear before the state capture Commission.
The Department of Correctional Services said on Thursday that it was seeking legal advice on the matter.
Current prisons head Makgothi Thobakgale was not the man responsible for the decision to release Zuma after serving just eight weeks of a 15-month sentence for contempt of court.
It was his predecessor, former spy boss Arthur Fraser — also the architect of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala misfortune, or at least the revelation thereof — who chose to free Zuma.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has called for the immediate detention of the former president follwing the ruling by the apex court.
The ConCourt found the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) appeal “bears no reasonable prospect of success” and dismissed the application with costs.
Steenhuisen has welcomed the ConCourt’s judgment saying it is going to set an important precedent.
“This judgment now confirms that Zuma belongs in jail, and that his vexatious litigation was a last desperate attempt to evade justice.
“The DA’s lawyers are currently drafting a letter which we will submit to Mr Zuma calling for him to voluntarily surrender himself to arrest within a reasonable timeframe,” Steenhuisen said.