A senior prisons official said that South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma appeared at the Estcourt correctional facility on Friday morning and was released under a remission process.
Department of Correctional Services acting national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said during a briefing that a decision was taken that Zuma must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Thobakgole, Zuma arrived at the prison at 06:00 on Friday, where he was processed.
Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola later announced that the former statesman had benefitted from a special remission of prison sentences for non-violent offenders, approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Lamola said the decision to have a special remission was to address overcrowding in prison, not to let the former president off the hook.
This meant Zuma spent less than two hours in prison before he was released. As a result of the remission, he will not be on the parole system.
The announcement comes after the constitutional court last month rejected an attempt to overturn a decision by a lower court that found Zuma’s release on medical parole was unlawful and that he should return to prison to finish his sentence.
Zuma’s initial arrest two years ago led to violent protests across South Africa that saw over 300 people killed.
Zuma, 81, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for defying a court order to participate in a corruption inquiry into high-level corruption during his nine-year tenure as president.
He handed himself over to authorities in July 2021 but was released on medical parole due to ill health two months later. He denies corruption allegations.
