FORMER South African President Jacob Zuma lost a court bid on Friday to overturn his arrest for contempt of court, days after turning himself in for a 15-month jail term in a case that has tested the post-Apartheid nation’s rule of law.
“Mr Zuma’s concerns about his health are not supported by any evidence,” the presiding judge in the Pietermaritzburg High Court said. “The application is dismissed.”
The Constitutional Court last week ordered Zuma jailed for refusing to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in office from 2009.
Zuma has separately challenged his sentence, partly on the grounds of his alleged frail health and risk of catching COVID-19.
Mzwanele Manyi, spokesman for Zuma’s charitable foundation, said Friday’s ruling against the former president was “purely academic”, since the application to block his arrest had been made last week but Zuma had since turned himself in on
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