No more prison time for Zuma after Ramaphosa rubber-stamps ‘remission’ – here is the reasoning

11 Aug 2023

Former president Jacob Zuma will not be required to complete his prison sentence, the Correctional Services Department has decided. This is despite the Constitutional Court dismissing Zuma’s application last month for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that he must return to prison to finish his 15-month sentence. Zuma is among almost 10 000 prisoners who are due to be granted remission, with overcrowding of prisons cited as a primary factor.

The national commissioner of correctional services, Samuel Thobakgale, announced on Friday morning that former president Jacob Zuma has been released on remission. Zuma is said to have handed himself over on Friday morning and underwent administrative processes before being released.

He was among a total of 9488 prisoners who are due to be released on remission, according to Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola, who also addressed a media briefing when the announcement was made. Overcrowded prisons was a factor in the decision to release the prisoners, he said, also noting that "the remission of sentences is a crucial aspect of our justice system".

The commissioner explained that they have upheld the Supreme Court of Appeal order to take Zuma into custody as the former president was processed into their system, only for his sentence to be placed under remission.

“Although the SCA and the high court both consider the decision of the then National Commissioner as unlawful, Mr Zuma was not discharged (released), but he was placed under community corrections where he continued serving his sentence, under strict conditions. Parole in South Africa is a form of punishment which is served by an inmate within the system of community corrections in terms of Chapter VI of the Correctional Services Act of 1998. When Mr Zuma left from a medical hospital upon placement on medical parole, he was continuously under community corrections serving his sentence. He was never a free man with effect from 8 July 2021.

“In compliance with the SCA Judgment, Zuma did report back at Estcourt Correctional Centre. A consideration has been made as per legislation, including processes that were already unfolding in the management of correctional services. The administrative procedures have ensued and Mr Zuma has been processed accordingly,” he said.

Remission of sentence is when the President uses the powers vested in him by the Constitution and the Correctional Services Act to grant a remission, which effectively means cutting the sentence short. It also fast-tracks the dates upon which an inmate will be placed on parole, subject to meeting set criteria.

Thobakgale explained that it had taken the department months to deal with the matter. The process had started in April and in May the technical team assessed the impact of the remission. The proposal was submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa for his approval. Ramaphosa is said to have rubber-stamped the remissions on Thursday.

He noted that this process was not exclusively undergone for Zuma and that there would be other prisoners who would also be released on remission. By close of business they would be able to release statistics of how many remissions have been processed.

The lead-up

Friday’s decision was precluded by a series of events. Zuma had refused to participate in the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations State Capture after several witnesses had placed him at the centre of these allegations.

Chairperson of the commission, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, petitioned the Constitutional Court which on 29 June 2021 sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison and ordered him to hand himself over to the police within five days, after finding him in contempt of court.

When Zuma defied order he was arrested on the cold night of 7 July 2021 and taken to prison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fG1OpwR1tA

After serving only two months of the 15-month sentence, Zuma was released by controversial former correctional services chief Arthur Fraser, whose decision was challenged by the DA and NGOs, and the Supreme Court ruled in November that Zuma’s release was unlawful.

In its ruling, the SCA said: “Whether the time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration is not a matter for this court to decide.

“It is a matter to be considered by the commissioner. If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release.”

Zuma’s arrest had major consequences for the country and led to the July 2021 riots. This was a wave of civil unrest that occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces from 9 to 18 July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Jacob Zuma speeds out of Nkandla and into custody at Estcourt Correctional Centre

Zuma was arrested in his homestead in Nkandla and taken to the Estcourt Correctional Services Centre to start his sentence. His supporters then began organising themselves on social media networks and other platforms, calling for a complete shutdown and demanding his immediate release.

At the time, the country and many parts of the world were in the throes of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and associated economic hardships and some analysts say the Zuma’s supporters rode a wave of resentment of the time.

A major turning point in the ensuing riots came with the torching of about 25 trucks and trailers, including one car carrier on which new BMW cars were gutted by fire on the busy N3 highway near the Mooi River toll plaza. Tow-truckers spent more than two days removing the burnt “carcasses”.

The riots spread throughout the province and into Gauteng, resulting in the deaths of more than 350 people and wholesale destruction of property. The economy suffered more than R50-billion in damages from a few days of mayhem.

Although most of the places that were burnt down have since been refurbished, there are some places that are still a grim reminder of that period and thousands of jobs were lost and those who lost those jobs are still suffering.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Business and communities still struggle to recover from July 2021 while alerts issued to avoid another insurrection

There have been fears – partly fuelled by threats by some of Zuma’s supporters – that similar kinds of violence or even worse should be expected in South Africa should the authorities move on him again. DM

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The lead-up