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‘No big bash’ tomorrow, says Manyi as Zuma is hospitalised
On Tuesday, the former president is expected to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Former president Jacob Zuma. Picture: Gallo Images
Former president Jacob Zuma has been hospitalised, according to his foundation’s spokesperson, Mzwanele Manyi.
Zuma is currently in hospital after he was admitted on Monday afternoon as his legal team argued for a postponement of his corruption trial.
“While we were sitting in court, we got a report from the medical team that [former] president Zuma has been admitted for all kinds of tests so doctors are running tests on him,” Manyi told eNCA.
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Manyi said there would be “no big bash” for Zuma on Tuesday, 12 April, which is the former president’s birthday.
“If anything, it will probably be a small thing around his family to cooperate with the unwell situation that has just popped up,” he added.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday postponed Zuma’s corruption trial to 17 May 2022.
Medical parole
The former president is currently out of jail on medical parole following his release last September.
Former Correctional Services national commissioner Arthur Fraser granted Zuma parole at the time, arguing that he did so to avoid any unrest, which may have been triggered if the former president’s health was put at risk.
This after the looting of shops and violent unrest in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The violence, which left more than 300 people dead, was ostensibly sparked by Zuma’s imprisonment.
READ MORE: Arthur Fraser details reasons behind Zuma’s medical parole in court papers
The Constitutional Court had found Zuma in contempt of its previous order for him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture for questioning and sentenced him to 15 months behind bars in June.
The decision to grant the former president parole was then legally challenged by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) and AfriForum.
While the parties saw their challenge successful in the Pretoria High Court, the former president has appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.
