Ex SA President Zuma sentenced to 15 months in jail

Constitutional Court of South Africa on Tuesday sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months in jail for being in contempt of court, reported Xinhua.

"Mr Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is sentenced to undergo 15 months imprisonment," said Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe.

The highest court in the land said Zuma should hand himself to the police in Nkandla or Johannesburg police station to begin his prison sentence within five days.

"For the station commander or other officer in charge of that police station to ensure that he is immediately delivered to a correctional center to commence serving the sentence," Khampepe said.

Zuma has homes in Johannesburg and Nkandla.

The Court said that if Zuma failed to hand himself to the police, the Police Minister Bheki Cele should within three days take all the necessary steps to make sure he was delivered to a correctional center.

The sentence came after Zuma refused to comply with the order of the court which ordered him to appear and testify at the state capture commission.

The commission was launched in January 2018 to "investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, fraud and other allegations in the public sector including organs of state" in South Africa.

In February, Zuma was given dates to appear at the commission but he refused, accusing the chair of the commission deputy judge Raymond Zondo of bias towards him.

African National Congress (ANC) spokesman Pule Mabe said in a statement that the party was "studying the judgment" calling for calm.

"Without a doubt, this is a difficult period in the movement and we call upon our members to remain calm," Mabe said the meeting of the National Executive Committee this weekend would "reflect on the implications" of the judgment.

The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Associations, which is part of the ANC, said it was "outraged" by the "unjustifiable" sentence that had been imposed on Zuma.

"We fully concur with president Zuma that he is unjustly targeted and that the law is being abused for factional political reasons," spokesperson Carl Niehaus said, adding that they were ready to "oppose" Zuma's imprisonment.

Other political and civil society movements continued reacting to the unprecedented judgment.

Official opposition party Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said the judgment showed that all citizens were equal before the law.

"Jaco Zuma...must now hand himself over to authorities. Today's judgment has struck a crucial blow for equality before the law, without which no democracy can prosper," he said.

Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa called for calm.

"We are well aware of the volatile situation at present. We implore the supporters of former president to act with restraint and accept the Constitutional Court ruling," said Hlengwa.

The fourth largest party said the judgment was a "victory for the rule of law, and confirms the fact that no one is above the law."

Civil society organization Corruption Watch welcomed the ruling.

"This is a historically significant moment. For the first time in South Africa, we are seeing a former head of state held directly accountable by way of a prison sentence, for his refusal to submit himself to the commission or to the jurisdiction of the ConCourt in this matter," said Karam Singh, head of Legal and Investigations at Corruption Watch.