South Africa’s Ex-President, Jacob Zuma Hospitalized
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s former president, was brought to the hospital on Friday.
Zuma, who was sentenced for contempt of court last month, is due in court for a separate graft trial in less than a week.
This was revealed in a statement released by the Department of Correctional Services on Friday.
The Department of Correctional Services “can confirm that former president Jacob Zuma has been admitted to an outside hospital for medical observation today, August 6 2021,” according to the statement.
Aside from the fact that it was prompted by “a normal observation,” no further explanation for the hospitalization on Friday was disclosed.
Zuma is set to appear in court on August 10 for the resumption of a long-running corruption trial.
Remember that Zuma was sentenced to prison by the Constitutional Court in 2009 for refusing to testify in a corruption investigation during his nine years in government.
The 79-year-old, who is accused of accepting bribes in connection with a $2 billion weapons transaction in the late 1990s, first resisted arrest but eventually surrendered.
Protests erupted around the country following the arrest of Zuma, who is popular among the impoverished and followers of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The protests swiftly devolved into looting, with mobs pillaging retail malls and warehouses and carting stuff away while police stood by, seemingly powerless to intervene.
Zuma’s trial was adjourned last month by a South African court after the former president requested a postponement so that he could appear in person rather than digitally.
