Fresh news hitting the desk of Africa Today News, New York has revealed that the South African government has finally made an open announcement about the release of their embattled former president, Jacob Zuma from prison which is coming on the heels of the completion of his jail sentence.
The South African government had put out a statement where they had noted that he had actually been released from their system after he had served only part of his term behind bars.
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And then reacting to his freedom, Jacob Zuma had also put out a statement where he had revealed that it was a day of mixed emotions, as he had also compared his release with that of 1973, when he walked out of Robben Island prison, after being jailed as an apartheid-era political prisoner with Nelson Mandela.
While thanking his supporters for speaking out against what he termed an “unjust and cruel incarceration”, the 80-year-old said, “I am relieved to be free again, to walk around and do whatever I want to do without restrictions.”
It had been revealed that Zuma had been jailed for up to 15 months in July last year for his particular refusal to finally appear before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into some of the allegations of State Capture while he had been president from 2009-2018.
He had also been granted medical parole for an undisclosed illness two months later, in September 2021 and in December 2021, the High Court in Pretoria ordered Zuma’s return to prison, ruling that he was unlawfully granted medical parole after opposition parties questioned his release.
In another related development, Jacob Zuma who is South Africa’s controversial former president who is also facing some corruption charges for which he has served a short stint in jail, has revealed that he is actually ready for a political comeback with the ruling party.
In a statement which he had put out recently, Zuma who is now 80 years old had also revealed that he has been asked by some of the members of the African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid, to put himself forward as the party finally gears up to elect a new leadership.