By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@TrevorSamson.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation confirmed that the embattled former president would “address the nation” on Sunday in Durban.
Sunday will mark five days since Zuma was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for being in contempt of the Constitutional Court. It is also the day he was meant to hand himself over to authorities.
When the apex court sentenced Zuma to 15 months in jail on Tuesday, he was ordered to report to the Nkandla or Johannesburg police stations within five days to start serving his prison sentence.
The Foundation said the Pietermaritzburg High Court will hear an urgent application to prevent Minister of Police Bheki Cele from arresting Zuma.
Since his sentence being handed down on Tuesday, Zuma admitted he was wrong to think he could not be forced to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
He said the legal path he had taken was due to the advice he received, and that he was ill-advised to follow it.
In his latest move to the courts, Zuma on Friday filed papers in the Constitutional Court, asking it to hear evidence in mitigation of sentence, citing health issues.
“I now fully accept that the most legally appropriate route which I could and should have taken would have been to apply for interim relief to interdict my appearance before the commission,” Zuma said in court papers appealing his sentence.
Financial hardships also played a role in the legal decisions made by Zuma, he conceded.
Meanwhile outside his homestead in Nkandla, his supporters vowed to physically defend him from the impending arrest.
Zuma’s staunch supporter Carl Neihaus said there would be unrest in the country should the former president be taken to jail. He was speaking during a media briefing by the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA).
A delegation of 10 senior ANC leaders has been deployed to intervene, along with KwaZulu-Natal party leaders.