Victim or Martyr: The Spectacular Rise and Fall Of Jacob Zuma

CHARLES MOLELE|

JACOB Zuma, former president of the African National Congress (ANC), must turn himself in to the nearest police station within the next five days – either at Nkandla, or the Johannesburg Central prison, once a notorious site of interrogation, torture and abuse by the South African Security Police (SAPS) during the apartheid era.

If he fails to do so, the police must take all steps necessary to ensure that he is arrested and immediately serves his prison sentence, the Constitutional Court said on Tuesday in a landmark case.

This is the first time in the South African history that a former president has been sentenced to prison.

The much-anticipated incarceration of Zuma, a master of dark arts politics, has deepened political divisions within the ANC and divided public opinion in South Africa, with pro-Zuma supporters saying they are prepared to lay down their lives for him.