By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed with costs former President Jacob Zuma’s appeal against the setting aside of his medical parole by the Pretoria High Court.
Zuma and the Department of Correctional Services had appealed the high court’s ruling in December last year, whic set aside the decision by former Correctional Services national commissioner, Arthur Fraser, to grant him medical parole.
In its unanimous judgment on Monday, the SCA confirmed the decision to grant Zuma medical parole was unlawful and invalid, upholding the earlier high court decision.
In a decision written by Judge Tati Makgoka, the SCA stressed that the effect of its order that Zuma had unlawfully been granted medical parole was that ” Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence”.
“He must return to the [Estcourt] Correctional Centre to do so. Whether the time spent by Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration, is not a matter for this court to decide,” the court said.
“It is a matter to be considered by the commissioner. If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release.”
Zuma was granted medical parole after he was hospitalised days after he handed himself in, in July 2021 after the Constitutional Court found him guilty for contempt of court and was to serve 15 months in prison.
The Gauteng high court in Pretoria reviewed and set aside Zuma’s initial successful application for parole in December 2021.
Zuma and Correctional Services national commissioner, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, were ordered to split the costs of the DA, the HSF and AfriForum.
The ANC in the eThekwini region of KwaZulu-Natal was unequivocal it does not want to see Zuma back behind bars.
“eThekwini as law-abiding citizens, we accept the judgment. We are very comfortable with it, because it is not enforcing the former president to go back to jail,” said regional secretary Musa Nciki on Monday.
“I think if we have to look at this whole matter, one way or another, the former president has served his sentence already,” Nciki added.
For the ANC eThekwini region, Zuma heading back to prison would be a double sentence, he said.
“For us, you cannot go in and serve a sentence twice. I think that is a great consideration that needs to be made by the commissioner.
“He has served his sentence; the term has come to an end. We do not want to see him going back to jail.”