By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has confirmed that former president Jacob Zuma’s prison sentence officially came to an end on Friday.
In a statement, the Department of Correctional Services (DSC) said the former statesman has been removed from its system.
“[DCS] is able to confirm that the former state president, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, has been released from the system of correctional services. Zuma’s 15 months sentence expired on Friday, October 7, 2022,” said the department.
However, Zuma’s freedom is solely dependent on the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) decision on whether the time he spent outside on medical parole should count as part of his sentence as ordered by the high court.
Zuma was slapped with a 15-month jail sentence when he was found guilty of contempt by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) in June 2021.
The former president had failed to comply with the Con Court’s ruling forcing him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
After serving part of his prison sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Zuma was subsequently released on medical parole in September.
At the time, the former president had a surgical procedure recently having been initially hospitalised for medical observation for an undisclosed illness.
Zuma was granted parole by former Correctional Services national commissioner Arthur Fraser, who admitted that the Medical Parole Advisory Board had in fact did not recommend the 80-year-old’s early release, but that he had overruled it.
Fraser had argued that he had considered “the events that occurred during the month of July 2021, and specifically around the period when Zuma was incarcerated” when granting the parole.
Zuma’s imprisonment sparked violent unrest and looting of shops in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which left more than 300 people dead.