This archive report was first published on 24 December 2021.
On December 22, 2021, High Court Judge Elias Matojane ruled that former South African President Jacob Zuma should not enjoy medical parole and should return to jail, deeming the September decision to place him on medical parole as 'unlawful.'
However, in a surprising turn of events, the same judge has now allowed Zuma to appeal the ruling, stating that the matter merits the Supreme Court of Appeal's attention.
"In my view, this matter merits the Supreme Court of Appeal's attention," Judge Matojane said at the end of a virtual hearing.
He added that another court may find that Zuma should be treated with 'compassion, empathy, and humanity' due to his ill health and advanced age.
As a reminder, Zuma was handed a 15-month jail sentence in July 2021 for contempt of court after he refused to give testimony to corruption investigators.
The former president's jailing sparked violent protests and looting in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, which spread to South Africa's financial hub Johannesburg in July 2021, claiming over 350 lives.
The violence was the deadliest in South Africa since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.
It is worth noting that Zuma was granted medical parole on September 5, but the exact reasons were never revealed. He has since returned to his $17 million estate in rural Nkandla.
