FORMER President Jacob Zuma has been released after spending just over an hour in the correctional facility.
Zuma was ordered to return to the Estcourt prison in Kwa-Zulu Natal on Friday, 11 August, in terms of a Constitutional Court ruling - which he unsuccessfully appealed.
The Correctional Service's National Commissioner, Samuel Thobakgale, told the media that the former president was processed, admitted, and then released on remission, which he qualified for as a low-risk offender.
Thobakgale said Zuma came to the correctional service at 6am and left at 7am.
"After having studied the Judgement of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), submissions by interested parties, legal advice and also guided by the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, I have exercised my discretion as per the SCA judgement in making a decision whether or not to take into account the period served under Community Corrections by the former President, Jacob Zuma," Thobakgale said.
The commissioner pointed out that Zuma was never a free man, even after being unlawfully placed on medical parole by former commissioner Arthur Fraser.
"Although the SCA and the High Court both consider the decision of the then national commissioner as unlawful, Mr Zuma was not discharged, but he was placed under community corrections where he continued serving his sentence, under strict conditions."
"When Mr Zuma left from a medical hospital upon placement on medical parole, he was continuously under community corrections serving his sentence. He was never a free man with effect from 8 July 2021," said Thobakgale.
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Speaking on the remission, Minister of Justice and Correctional Service Ronal Lamola said President Cyril Ramaphosa had approved the remission of non-violent offenders in South Africa. These included Zuma.
He said the special remission process began on 24 April 2023 when approximately 1112 bed spaces in correctional service facilities were lost, mainly due to the dilapidated condition of prisons. "The actual remissions began today, with Zuma being one of the first beneficiaries," said the Minister.
Lamola insisted that neither he nor Ramaphosa interfered with Thobakgale's decision on Zuma's incarceration and denied that the remissions had been planned to begin when Zuma arrived in prison.
The Minister stressed that Mzansi prisons are overcrowded.
"There are 212,286 inmates, including 9,351 foreign nationals, managed by the Department of Correctional Services across the country's 243 correctional centres and 218 community centres."
He said offenders convicted of non-violent and non-sexual crimes would be eligible for up to 24 months of remission after completing the pre-release programme and risk assessment and providing fingerprints and DNA samples.
"The majority of the beneficiaries of this decision are already serving parole or under correctional supervision in their communities," he said.
