Zuma eligible for parole in little over 3 months - Lamola
Former president Jacob Zuma will be eligible for parole after serving a quarter of his 15-month jail sentence.
The former statesman was whisked away from his home in Nkandla on Wednesday night, with only minutes to spare to the midnight deadline.
Zuma was taken into custody at the Estcourt Correctional Facility at the eleventh hour after a week of uncertainty, drama, court cases and threats of violence.
Despite his apprehension, Zuma is believed to be in good spirits.
This according to Justice minister Ronald Lamola.
Lamola addressed a contingent of media outside prison gates in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday where he assured the public Zuma would be in good care.
“We want to assure all South Africans that former president Zuma will be afforded dignity throughout his term of incarceration.”
Zuma will be in isolation for the next 14 days.
He’ll also undergo health exam before he is classified and allocated to a certain section of the prison.
Lamola added Zuma’s case has no stipulation for the non-parole period.
“This effectively means the former president will be eligible for parole once a quarter of his sentence has been served.
This comes up to a little under 4 months.
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Zuma has made at least three attempts to avoid jail, including an application before the Pietermaritzburg High Court to start his arrest, a letter to Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and an application before the Constitutional Court to rescind its judgment against him.
The High Court is expected to deliver its judgment on Friday.
Lamola added that it’s difficult to determine how the pending litigation will play out.
“We will cross that bridge once we get there. It’s a judgment, we all don’t know what the judgment will be so we will await the judgment and upon release of the judgment, we will study the judgment and it will inform us what to do,” he said.
Listen to Lamola below:
