Former South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday has agreed to hand himself over to the police to begin 15 months jail sentence slammed on him for contempt of court.
This was confirmed in a statement by a police spokesperson Lirandzu Themba saying that Zuma was in police custody, in compliance with the Constitutional Court judgment, as reported by Reuters Africa.
The Department of Correctional Services said in a separate statement that Zuma was admitted to Estcourt Correctional Centre, about 175 km (108 miles) from his hometown in Nkandla in eastern South Africa.
In a statement issued by his foundation stated as thus, “President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order.”
His foundation had last week resisted the sentence claiming that the 79-year-old is a victim of a political witch hunt and that the inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo Zondo is biased against him.
Zuma came under the fire after the Zondo Commission alleged that he allowed three Indian-born businessmen, Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta, to plunder state resources and traffic influence over government policy. He and the Gupta brothers, who fled to Dubai after Zuma was ousted, deny any wrongdoing.
Also, he faces a separate court case relating to a $2 billion arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president. He denies the charges.
