South Africa’s former President, Jacob Zuma has been granted freedom on grounds of medical parole. This is coming a little over two months after he was jailed on contempt charges, resulting into violent protests.
According to a statement from the government’s department of correctional services, Jacob Zuma’s parole had been driven by a medical report, but it provided no details about the nature of his illness.
The former President was admitted to a hospital to undergo the first of several medical procedures last month.
With the recent development, Zuma will now serve the remainder of his 15-month sentence under supervision in the community corrections system, until his sentence expires.
Zuma, 79, was taken into custody on July 7 after South Africa’s highest judicial body found him guilty of contempt for refusing to appear before a commission investigating corruption allegations during his nine years as president.
Leader of the South Africa’s opposition party, John Steenhuisen said in a statement on Sunday that Zuma’s medical parole was unlawful and made a mockery of the country’s correctional law.
Under the correctional law, those eligible to be released for medical reasons include terminally ill inmates serving 24 months or less, those who are physically incapacitated and inmates suffering from an illness that severely limits their daily activity or capacity to care for themselves.