Correctional Services must announce if Zuma will go back to prison

The civil rights organisation AfriForum calls on Makgothi Thobakgale, National Commissioner of Correctional Services, to announce without delay whether former president Jacob Zuma must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre. This follows after his medical parole was declared illegal by the Constitutional Court, thanks to AfriForum and others who took legal action in 2021 to fight the release of Zuma.

“It is unacceptable that South African citizens have to wait in suspense for 23 days to hear whether Zuma, who acts as if he is above the law, will indeed serve his full sentence in prison, as he should,” says René van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum.

Zuma’s medical parole, which was granted by Arthur Fraser, former National Commissioner of Correctional Services, was declared illegal on 13 July. AfriForum expects an urgent answer from Thobakgale and is ready to take further steps if the final decision is illegal or irregular.