Sept 17, 2021: South Africa’s Supreme Court has ruled that former President Jacob Zuma has overturned his 15-month prison sentence for failing to attend a corruption inquiry.

The sentence was handed down in June after Zuma failed to testify at an inquiry probing corruption during his nine-year rule, seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa’s ability to enforce the rule of law, particularly against powerful politicians.

Zuma, who is recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery for an unknown illness, asked the court in July to have his sentence overturned for contempt because it is abusive, and the prison endangers his health and life. 

In a majority decision on Friday, the Constitutional Court rejected his arguments. It was the latest legal blow to the 79-year-old veteran against racial discrimination by the ruling African National Congress, which was presided over between 2009 and 2018 amid widespread allegations of corruption and dishonesty.

To date the former South Africa President denies any wrongdoing.

Zuma’s imprisonment in July sparked violent riots, looting and vandalism in South Africa, killing more than 300 people and costing businesses billions of South African rand.

His successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, the current ruler of South Africa, described the unrest as a concerted effort to destabilize the country and vowed to take action against the alleged instigators. Even after the ANC came to power in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the violence was fueled by frustration among a large number of black communities.