The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) says the Department of Correctional Services is considering its position on former President Jacob Zuma’s fate.
This follows a decision by the Constitutional Court that dismissed the Department’s application for leave to appeal against a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling regarding Zuma’s medical parole.
In the ruling, the Apex court found that the department’s appeal bore no reasonable prospect of success.
The Acting Correctional Services Commissioner will now have to make a decision based on the medical parole and other issues.
Casac executive secretary, Lawson Naidoo says, “The decision as to what happens now to Mr Zuma is effectively remitted to the new acting commissioner to determine in accordance with the Correctional Services Act, whether or not Mr Zuma is eligible for parole on other grounds.”
Discussion | ConCourt found Zuma’s release on medical parole was unlawful
According to the Jacob Zuma Foundation, the former president is currently receiving medical treatment in Russia and it is unclear when he will return to South Africa.
The foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said Zuma had sought medical treatment in Russia due to the hatred he was facing in South Africa.
“In this country, because President Zuma is so hated, I think he is within his rights to have all kinds of scepticism around even medical people. Nobody can be trusted these days, in terms of ethics and hatred that Zuma is suffering in this country.”
“As a foundation, we always advise him to go to places where there is no consensus on hating you. So, we don’t trust the fact that the people who work around Zuma are people who have got his best interest at heart. We may have all the medical capabilities, but we don’t have all the ethics so that everything is where it should be.”
The audio file below is the full interview with Mzwanele Manyi:
