South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma reported back to prison on Friday only to be swiftly released, in the latest twist over the 81-year-old’s contempt of court sentence.
Zuma was ordered to report back to prison and arrived at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) at a detention facility in the eastern town of Estcourt where he was “admitted into the system”, the prison service said.
But he was let go in just over an hour as part of a “remission process” aiming to address overcrowding in prison, according to Correctional Services national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale.
“Upon admission into the system he was subjected to administrative processes. He was then released,” Thobakgale told a press conference in Pretoria.
Zuma served as president from 2009 to 2018 before being forced out over graft allegations.
Besides his 2021 contempt of court conviction he is facing separate charges of corruption in an arms procurement scandal dating to the late 1990s, when he was vice president.
