South Africa’s ex-President, Jacob Zuma handed 15 months jail term for contempt

South Africa’s ex-President Jacob Zuma has been sentenced to 15 months by the highest court in the country.

This was said by Deputy Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe in a ruling in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

He has been given five days to hand himself into police. Failing to do so, the police minister must order his arrest.

The jail sentence comes after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of contempt for defying its order to appear at an inquiry into corruption while he was president.

READ ALSO: Defiant Ex-President Jacob Zuma snubs South African Anti-Graft panel, again

Mr Zuma’s time in power, which ended in 2018, was dogged by graft allegations.

Businessmen were accused of conspiring with politicians to influence the decision-making process.

The ex-president made one appearance at the inquiry into what has become known as “state capture” but then refused to appear subsequently.

The inquiry – headed by Justice Raymond Zondo – asked the Constitutional Court to intervene.

Khampepe said in her ruling that Mr Zuma refused to come to the court to explain his actions and he “decided instead to make provocative, unmeritorious and vituperative statements that constituted a calculated effort to impugn the integrity of the judiciary.

“I am left with no option but to commit Mr Zuma to imprisonment, with the hope that doing so sends an unequivocal message… the rule of law and the administration of justice prevails,” she stated.

The former president was not in court to hear the majority ruling and has repeatedly declared that he was the victim of a giant political conspiracy.

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