Cape Town [South Africa], August 12 : South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has been released from prison under a remission process to address overcrowding in the jail CNN reported.
His release came just an hour after he was returned to prison on Friday to comply with a ruling that his release on ill health was unlawful.
Jacob Zuma reached the Estcourt correctional detention facility at 6 am (local time) and was “admitted to the system” before being swiftly released, CNN reported citing Correctional Services National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale.
Zuma, who was South Africa’s President from 2008 to 2018, started serving a 15-month prison sentence in July 2021 after being charged with contempt of court for violating summons to appear at an inquiry into corruption during his time in office.
His initial arrest resulted in protests across the country that killed dozens of people. In September 2021, the South African government’s correctional services department said Zuma had been released from prison on medical parole due to ill health, CNN reported.
The department said that Zuma had been released from prison in October 2022. However, South Africa’s Court of Appeal in November ruled that the former South African President should return to prison and the decision to release him on medical parole was unlawful.
To comply with the court’s decision, Jacob Zuma returned to prison on Friday. However, he benefited from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s policy of giving remission to non-violent offenders in South Africa in a bid to reduce overcrowding in prisons, according to CNN.
On Friday, Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said prison overcrowding “poses a direct threat to inmate health, security, and management, and it could lead to a surge in gangsterism.” Lamola further said that overcrowding hinders the department’s ability to conduct development and rehabilitation programmes.
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