Johannesburg – Former South African president, Jacob Zuma has been found guilty of being in contempt of court by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
This comes after Zuma failed to comply with an earlier order in February to obey the Zondo commission’s summons to appear and give evidence.
Zuma said earlier in the year that he would rather go to prison than appear at the Zondo commission.
Justice Sisi Khampepe handed down the judgment on Tuesday morning.
Khampepe said during the judgment, “It was the applicant case that Mr Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court. His non-compliance with a court order was undeniable because he failed to appear and give evidence before the commission. Mr Zuma did not oppose this application, nor did he file any submissions.”
“Never before has the authority and the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court has come under the level of attack as it has from Mr Zuma,” she further said.
“There can be no doubt that Mr Zuma is in contempt of court,” Khampepe further said.
She further said that it would be “futile” to give Jacob Zuma a suspended sentence.
Unsuspended sentence of imprisonment of 15 months handed down by Constituional Court
Khampepe said that Zuma will serve an unsuspended sentence of 15 months in prison for 15 months.
Khampepe said that Zuma has five calendar days to hand himself over to either the Nkandla police station or the Johannesburg police station.
If he does not hand himself in, the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, was ordered to take any means necessary to ensure that Zuma will serve his sentence.
Watch the full judgment that was handed down below:
Also read: Twitter reacts as Jacob Zuma is sentenced to jail
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