Jacob Zuma Foundation announcement comes a day after constitutional court denied 81-year-old’s request to overturn Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling on his medical parole.
JOHANNESBURG
Former South African President Jacob Zuma, who is facing several legal issues at home, is in Russia for medical treatment, his foundation said in a statement on Friday.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation said their patron traveled to Russia last week on a commercial flight for medical reasons and will return once his doctors have completed his treatment.
The announcement came a day after the constitutional court denied the 81-year-old’s request to overturn the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) ruling on his medical parole.
The court had ordered Zuma’s return to prison because his parole release had been illegally granted by Arthur Fraser, then head of South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services. Fraser allegedly made the decision against the advice of the Medical Parole Advisory Board.
In July 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a judicial commission investigating corruption during his nearly decade-long presidency.
He was released from the Estcourt Correctional Center on medical parole after just two months to serve his sentence under house arrest.
