South Africa’s High Court ordered former President Jacob Zuma to return to jail after an earlier decision to release the former President on medical parole was set aside.
The former president began his medical parole in September and is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court, after ignoring instructions to participate in a corruption inquiry.
That same month, South Africa’s top court dismissed a bid by Zuma to overturn the sentence. Zuma, who was alleged to have been corrupt during his reign of nine years, handed himself in on July 7 to begin his prison sentence and triggered the worst violent protest that South Africa had experienced in years.
The protests widened into looting by an angry crowd who were outraged by the hardship and inequality that still took place in South Africa. The result was the deaths of more than 300 people and the closure of thousands of businesses.
Zuma’s trial, which has been held up for many years, includes charges on corruption, racketeering and money laundering. He also faces separate corruption charges linked to his sacking as deputy president in 2005 when he was implicated in a $2 billion government arms deal.
