South Africa’s corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma is receiving medical treatment in Russia. This is what his spokesperson said on Friday, a day after South Africa’s High Court ruled that he should return to prison.
– Zuma traveled to Russia last week for health reasons, says the 81-year-old’s spokesman Mzwanele Manyi, adding that the trip was private and “no secret” as information about it was published by local media.
– He will return to the country when his doctor has finished the treatment, says Manyi.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court upheld an order for Zuma to return to prison to complete the 15-month prison sentence he is serving for contempt of court. An appeal to avoid prison was rejected.
Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018 before being forced out, accused of enabling the looting of the treasury during his nearly nine years in power. He was sentenced in June 2021 after refusing to answer questions from a corruption commission.
He was then released on parole after only two months on health grounds – a decision that was found to be illegal on retrial and has now been overturned.
The former head of state last week attended a conference on carbon credits in Zimbabwe, where he announced a donation of seven million credits to the country on behalf of a Belarusian company.