South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma was on Tuesday sentenced to 15 months in prison by the apex court which found him guilty of contempt after he failed to appear before an inquiry probing wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his tenure. Zuma (79), is accused of enabling the plunder of state coffers during his nearly nine-year stay in office from 2009 to 2018.
Zuma was not in court for the ruling and has been given five days to hand himself in at a police station. If he fails to do so, the police minister must order his arrest. In a strongly worded majority judgment handed down on Tuesday, Justice Sisi Khampepe of the Constitutional Court described Zuma's statements as "outlandish" and "intolerable". "The Constitutional Court can do nothing but conclude that Mr Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court", judge Khampepe said.
The court also said that the sentence could not be suspended. The Commission of Enquiry, which is investigating allegations of corruption and bribery at state and parastatal institutions, had asked that Zuma be sent to prison for two years. Zuma has repeatedly said that he would rather go to jail than cooperate with the Commission.
"The Constitutional Court holds that it is disturbing that (Zuma), who twice swore allegiance to the Republic (of South Africa), its laws and the Constitution, has sought to ignore, undermine and in many ways destroy the rule of law altogether," the judge said.
