FILE PHOTO: Former president Jacob Zuma sitting at the Petermaritzburg High Court during his appearance for his corruption charges, he has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying the Constitutional Court order to appear before the Zondo Commission. PICTURE: ROGAN WARD / POOL / AFP
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0 JOHANNESBURG: Mr Winks says the SCA did not rule on time served by Mr Zuma on medical parole.
Legal expert, Advocate Ben Winks, says that Thursday’s judgement by the Constitutional Court on South Africa’s former president, Mr Jacob Zuma has been misinterpreted.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the Department of Correctional Services’ application for leave to appeal a ruling that former President, Jacob Zuma must go back to prison.
In the ruling handed down earlier, the Constitutional Court found that the department’s appeal bears no reasonable prospect of success, and dismissed the application with costs.
Speaking to the SABC, Mr Winks said the SCA did not rule on time served by Mr Zuma on medical parole.
“The judgement has or the result today has been, I think, misinterpreted a bit because the judgement of the Supreme Court of Appeal contained a line in it saying that President Zuma has not finished serving his sentence, he must return to Estcourt prison.
“Now, that was a reference to the 15 months to which he had been sentenced. Now, that 15 months has actually passed. The SCA declined to grant an order that was sought by some of the intervening parties, that the time spent on medical parole should not count as part of his 15 months sentence,” said Mr Winks.
In November last year, the SCA set aside the High Court order which declared that the time Mr Zuma spent out on medical parole should not be counted as part of the prison sentence.
The Constitutional Court handed Zuma a 15-month prison sentence in June 2021 after he had defied its order to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. The sentence expired on the 7th of October last year.
At the time, the JG Zuma Foundation welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal. The foundation’s spokesperson, Mr Mzwanele Manyi said all that mattered was that the former president had not been sent back to jail.
“The Foundation welcomes the fact that His Excellency President Zuma is not going to jail. I think it will also help the sentiment in the country and it will create stability for the country because the sentiment on the ground was very negative towards President Zuma going to jail,” Mr Manyi said at the time.
“So, we think that is very good, as for the rest of other things, I just think they are for academics for case law, for us a big win is the fact that President Zuma is not going back to jail. That is the bottom line.”
Political Reactions on the Constitutional Court Judgement
Meanwhile, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) said that it will not interfere with the apex court’s decision regarding the matter of former President Jacob Zuma’s medical parole, but went on to say that now it’s the turn of the politicians to decide on the matter.
UDM leader, Mr Bantu Holomisa was reacting to the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of the Department of Correctional Services’ application for leave to appeal a ruling that Mr Zuma must go back to prison.
Mr Holomisa said that any further decision taken by politicians will not involve judges.
“The judges have done their work, and nobody is going to question them and so on. The apex court has taken a final decision. The ball now is on the side of the politicians. Any political decision taken by the government and by the parliament of this country, in the interest of Zuma’s health, will be the decision of the politicians and not judges.
“So, we will not be interfering. Zuma for instance, he can apply for parole, presidential parole, that’s political, judges won’t be involved,” Mr Holomisa said.
However, the Democratic Alliance(DA) hailed the decision of the Constitutional Court on Mr Zuma, describing it as a major victory and showing that all are equal before the law. The party leader, Mr John Steenhuizen said that the same rules and regulations should apply to all regardless of position.
“It’s a major victory for the principle of equality before the law which was the foundational principle of the rule of law in South Africa where it doesn’t matter if you’re a former president or an ordinary citizen. The same rules, regulations, and stipulations must apply to everybody equally.
“I think the fact that Mr Zuma lost in the high court, and Correctional Services lost in the high court, they lost in the SCA, and now the Constitutional Court has confirmed that the medical parole was indeed unlawful,” he said.
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