Former President Jacob Zuma is in Russia, receiving medical treatment, due to ill health. He reportedly left the country earlier this week for Moscow. Zuma, 81, has long relied on Russia’s healthcare system, remembering his alleged poisoning in 2014.
News of Zuma’s overseas treatment comes as the Constitutional Court ruled he should be sent back to prison. The Apex Court on Thursday rejected the Department of Correctional Services’ application for leave to appeal a previous rejection from the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Mzwanele Manyi, the spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, said that Zuma leaving the country was not linked to the ConCourt ruling. “There is no connection. The president Jacob Zuma is not a sangoma, he wouldn’t have known last week already that the judgement is coming. In the foundation we don’t have an Ismail Abramjee,” he reportedly said.
The former President, allegedly flew commercially to Russia, accompanied by six VIP bodyguards, paid by the state.
Manyi rejected claims that Zuma left the country in secret. “The foundation confirms that H.E President Zuma travelled to Russia last week for health reasons, and he will be returning to the country once his doctors have completed their treatment,” he said.
Zuma first jailed in 2021
Zuma received a 15-month jail term in 2021 for contempt of the Constitutional Court. This after he refused to obey an order to testify at a hearing before the Zondo Commission on State Capture.
He turned himself in to the authorities in July 2021. But two months later, he was freed on medical parole.
The Supreme Court of Appeals, in 2022, ruled that it was unlawful to release the former president on early medical parole. It further ruled that he should return to jail to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
The commissioner’s office then appealed this decisions to the ConCourt. But this was turned down in July.
Zuma’s jailing in 2021 triggered intense violence in two of the country’s provinces: KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Unforgettably, looters rampaged through shopping malls, retail outlets, factories and vital infrastructure. Over 1,000 people were reportedly arrested as a result.
