By Naadiya Adams

The Jacob Zuma Foundation has welcomed the decision by the Gauteng High Court Judge Elias Matojane to grant Zuma leave to appeal his ruling on Zuma’s medical parole.

The ruling, which Zuma’s legal team is set to argue against, states that the granting of medical parole to Zuma was unlawful and that he should be incarcerated for the remainder of his sentence.

Matojane made the judgment on Tuesday and stated that the attention of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein was needed in the matter. The Department of Correctional Services has also been granted leave to appeal the ruling.

The foundation believes that the ruling will not hold in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

According to Matojane, it’s possible another court will go easier on the former president showing him “compassion, empathy, and humanness – the essence of ubuntu”.

“I am also of the view that there is a reasonable possibility that another court may find that the order, that time spent on medical parole should not count towards fulfilling his sentence, as these impacts on him unfairly in that it was not his decision but that of the commissioner to be released on medical parole.”

Earlier, Zuma’s lawyers argued that Zuma “did not grant himself medical parole”, but was released by the national commissioner.

The matter will now head to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein.

The former President was sentenced to 15 months in prison and his arrest in July 2021 sparked nation wide unrest that saw at least 300 people killed and billions of rands worth of infrastructure and goods destroyed.

As Zuma’s case remains at the center of the public eye, the situation remains volatile and authorities are on high alert.