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Jacob Zuma was ordered to return to prison on Friday morning, only to be released two hours later following his processing, as he is apparently among more than 9 000 prisoners who benefitted from a remission of sentences announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa to low-risk offenders.
The decision to send the former president back to prison for his two hour stint was announced on Friday morning, during a briefing by Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and Correctional Services National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale.
The SCA had ruled that Zuma's release on medical parole in September 2021 by former national commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, was unlawful.
The national correctional commissioner thus took a decision in compliance with the Supreme Court decision that Zuma must go back to jail.
However, President Ramaphosa has simultaneously announced a remission of sentences for 9 488 prisoners, who are considered to be low risk, in an attempt to relieve overcrowding in the country's prisons.
What this means is that Zuma is now officially a free man.
According to Thobakgale, a decision was taken to admit Zuma at the same Estcourt facility where he started his sentence. He was subsequently subjected to the remission system that "applies to all other prisoners," which resulted in him being released.
Lamola explained that the decision to effect remission is taken by the president in terms of section 84 (2) (J) of the constitution.
"This decision is aimed at alleviating the overcrowding in the prison services across the country," he explained, adding that "the president's decision is to remit offenders across the country and not specifically Zuma."
Lamola added:
The justice minister said that 9 488 inmates who are in the prison facilities will be released into correctional supervision.
"Zuma will also benefit from the decision to be released to correctional supervision."
He is confident that the decision will stand up to judicial scrutiny.
The president's decision
In a statement released on Friday morning, the president's decision to release the prisoners is explained.
It says the current prison occupancy rate is 143%, with the overcrowding rate at 43.06%.
"The recent loss of 3 024 beds at Kutama Sinthumule prison due to fire means that overcrowding will increase by 4%, raising the overcrowding rate to 47.06%, and in turn, the occupancy rate will increase by 147%."
READ: Commissioner must determine Zuma's remaining jail time - SCA
July 2021 unrest
Zuma's initial incarceration in July 2021 sparked deadly unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng that claimed the lives of more than 300 people, and the prospect of his return to prison had raised fears of a resurgence of violence.
READ: Security cluster panicking over Zuma being sent back to jail
The Constitutional Court in June 2021 sentenced Zuma to 15 months behind bars for contempt after he had defied its previous order to appear before the State Capture Commission of Inquiry that was chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
In dismissing the Department of Correctional Services’ application for leave to appeal the SCA ruling, the apex court found the department’s appeal "bears no reasonable prospect of success" and dismissed the application with costs.
The apex court’s ruling had left it up to Thobakgale to decide if the time Zuma had spent on medical parole should still count as time served.
When the court handed down its ruling on July 13, Zuma was in Russia receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed medical illness. He has since returned to South Africa.
The application to set aside Zuma’s medical parole was initially lodged by the DA, the Helen Suzman Foundation and AfriForum at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
The three organisations challenged Zuma’s medical parole after Fraser admitted during a television interview that he had overridden the Medical Parole Advisory Board’s decision not to release the former president from jail.
The board found that Zuma was neither terminally ill nor severely incapacitated to serve his 15 months sentence imposed by the Constitutional Court.
