Johannesburg – Former president Jacob Zuma’s Foundation said it hopes his legal team will close some of the gaps missed when the High Court ruled that he should return to prison to serve out the rest of his 15 month jail sentence.
Last week Judge Elias Matojane ruled that the decision by then commissioner of correctional service Arthur Fraser to grant Zuma medical parole was unlawful.
He ordered that Zuma should return to the Estcourt prison and that the time he already spent on medical parole would not count towards his sentence.
Zuma’s team maintained that Matojane delivered an erroneous judgment, including his judgment on whether or not the matter was urgent.
The foundation called the judgment against their patron cruel and vindictive last week.
It hopes the former president’s legal team will give clarity on issues such as Zuma’s so-called terminal illness, Section 75 of the Correctional Services Act which speaks to the role of the national commissioner versus that of a parole board, and whether or not the judgment was an overreach.
The foundation’s Mzwanele Manyi said these are some of the errors that must be addressed.
“He will not put him on medical parole. He will put him straight back to jail. That’s an executive decision. What gives the judge the right to make those kinds of decisions? That’s for the Correctional Services to make that decision,” said Manyi.
Meanwhile, AfriForum also indicated it plans to join the matter. It wants its legal team to present reasons why the application for leave to appeal is illegal.
Manyi dismissed the organisation, saying they have no time for racists who want Zuma behind bars for no reason.
The matter is set for 10am on Tuesday morning.
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