Correctional services to apply to appeal Zuma parole judgment

The department of correctional services says it will apply for leave to appeal against the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) concerning medical parole granted to former president Jacob Zuma.

On Monday, the SCA dismissed an appeal by Zuma and the department about medical parole granted to him last year after serving only two months of his 15-month sentence, and said he must return to prison in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal.

LISTEN | SCA ruling: Zuma's potential next steps

“Mr Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre to do so,” said the SCA in its unanimous judgment on Monday.

The SCA said about how long Zuma stayed  in prison was not a matter for the courts to decide, but was a matter to be considered by the commissioner of correctional services.

“Having carefully studied the judgment, correctional services is convinced that another court may arrive at a different conclusion,” department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said.

He said  the department was considering that course on the basis of the interpretation and application of the Correctional Services Act and other relevant prescripts.

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