Faizel Patel – 09/07/2021
The Correctional Services Department says Jacob Zuma is not receiving any special treatment at the Estcourt Correctional Centre despite being a former president.
Zuma handed himself over to police after he could not secure a last-minute reprieve.
The former president was taken to the Estcourt Correctional Centre shortly before midnight and was set to go through admission processes.
Speaking to Radio Islam, Justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri says medical assessments being done on Zuma are standard procedure to determine how he will be incarcerated.
He says Zuma will be placed in isolation for the first fourteen days in line with COVID-19 regulations.
“There is a number of assessments that are done. Chief among those first being health assessments, the age of the individual is looked at, the type of crime that the individual is incarcerated for. Than once that is concluded their profile is than submitted to what we call a case management committee. The case management committee than assesses all of these interceding factors and then they would than assign the individual concerned a particular category.”
Phiri says investigations are also underway into the circumstances surrounding the theft of a camera SD card, containing images of Zuma being admitted to the Estcourt Correctional Centre.
“We were informed by one of the broadcasters that they have come into possession of pictures that they believe were received rather clandestinely. We than confirmed this with one of the officials concerned who’s now being contemplated for suspension. There is an investigation and criminal case underway, so we’ll be able to establish exactly through an internal investigation what had transpired.”
Zuma will be eligible for parole when he has served a quarter of his 15-month sentence.
Listen to the interview with Chrispin Phiri
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