A South African court in Wednesday ruled that the country’s former President Jacob Zuma should be returned to prison, saying his medical parole was “unlawful”.
Jacob Zuma who was freed in September for an undisclosed medical reason was jailed for failing to attend an inquiry into corruption during his presidency.
Prison authorities said his release on parole was compelled by a medical report, but what ails him has never been disclosed.
He did, however, undergo surgery after he was imprisoned.
The 79-year-old handed himself in to police in July after a public stand-off, but his jailing, unprecedented for an ex-president, sparked violent protests looting and claims more than 300 people, mostly in Zuma’s stronghold of KwaZulu-Natal province
The former president’s spokesman said at the time that imprisonment had had “an exponential impact in terms of deteriorating his condition”. His lawyers also argued that their client’s illness had rendered him incapacitated.
South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the parole was entirely unlawful and made a mockery of prison regulations.
