By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
File Photo.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has confirmed that former President Jacob Zuma remains in hospital outside the Estcourt Correctional Centre in Kwazulu-Natal.
The department said in a statement on Sunday, Zuma remains in hospital after he underwent a surgical procedure on Saturday with further procedures scheduled for the coming days.
“As a result, DCS is unable to predict a discharge date as our priority at this stage is for Mr Zuma to be afforded the best care possible,” the statement read.
“As inmates are placed in correctional centres involuntarily, the state has a total and inescapable responsibility and duty to care for them in a manner that does not violate or compromise their constitutional rights, which include access to health care.”
The department appealed to the public to refrain from speculating about the health of the former president, saying people should “allow medical practitioners space to continue providing quality healthcare to him”.
Earlier this month, he was admitted to an outside hospital for medical observation for an undisclosed illness. The DCS said at the time the decision to take Zuma for in-hospitalisation was made after a “routine observation”.
This week details of Zuma’s health were revealed in court papers during his arms deal trial at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg. Zuma is said to have suffered a “traumatic injury” late in 2020 and requires extensive medical treatment to recover.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation has since lashed out at the National Prosecuting Authority and the media over the “callous and insensitive” handling of details of the former president’s health.
It said a document containing details of Zuma’s medical status was marked confidential and should not have been “freely and deliberately circulated at a mass level”.
“The rules of common decency dictate that such information be treated in a manner which observes the human dignity and privacy rights of any person or patient,” the foundation said in a statement.
Zuma was expected to appear in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg for his arms deal-linked corruption case.
However, he was hospitalised last week.
He has been serving a 15-month jail term for defying a Constitutional Court ruling that he should appear before the State Capture Inquiry.