South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma hands himself to police

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail

Wire News

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has handed himself in to police to begin serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

He was admitted to Estcourt Correctional Centre in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.

Zuma, 79, was handed the jail term last week after he failed to attend a corruption inquiry.

Police had warned that they were prepared to arrest him if he did not hand himself in by midnight.

The sentencing sparked an unprecedented legal drama in South Africa, which has never seen a former president jailed before.

Zuma had initially refused to hand himself in, but in a short statement on Wednesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said he had “decided to comply”.

Mr Zuma was taken to a prison near to his home in KwaZulu-Natal province late on Wednesday

Zuma was sentenced on 29 June for defying an instruction to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power.

But Zuma has repeatedly said that he is the victim of a political conspiracy.

Though he was forced out of office by his party in 2018, the African National Congress (ANC), he retains a loyal body of supporters, especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

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