Johannesburg, June 30, (dpa/GNA) – Former South African president Jacob Zuma has been sentenced to 15 months in prison because he failed to appear before an investigative panel looking into allegations of corruption against him.
It marks the first time that a former president has been handed jail time in the country.
Zuma was ordered to turn himself in to police within five days.
Zuma’s prison sentence is “an important milestone for South Africa’s judicial independence and its fight against corruption,” said Aleix Montana, Africa analyst at risk analysis company Verisk Maplecroft.
The special inquiry that Zuma skipped is looking into charges of corruption linked to his time in office, which stretched from 2009 to 2018.
GNA