South Africa’s top court on Friday rejected former President Jacob Zuma’s application to rescind his 15-month-jail sentence for contempt of court. Zuma handed himself over in July after the Constitutional Court found him to be in contempt of court for repeatedly refusing to return to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, where several witnesses have given details of his alleged role in a number of issues relating to the looting of state departments and parastatal organisations.
In a majority judgment of the Constitutional Court, Judge Sisi Khampepe dismissed 79-year-old Zuma’s application of rescission with costs. Commenting on Zuma’s conduct, Khampepe said that he had wilfully refused to participate in litigation and then reopened the case when it suited him.
“The majority emphatically reject any suggestion that litigants can be allowed to butcher of their own will judicial process which in all respects has been carried out,” Khampepe said.
