South Africa’s Former President Zuma Tries to Block Arrest as Police Hold Back

Former South African president Jacob Zuma speaks to supporters who gathered at his home, as South African court agreed to hear his challenge to a 15-month jail term for failing to attend a corruption hearing, in Nkandla, South Africa, July 4, 2021. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

JOHANNESBURG, July 6 (Reuters) – South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma tried to block his arrest in court on Tuesday as top police officials said they would hold back while Zuma’s two-pronged legal challenge unfolds.

The constitutional court sentenced Zuma a week ago to a 15-month jail term for contempt of court after he defied an order to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power.

The court gave Zuma five days to hand himself in, failing which police were instructed to arrest him by the end of Wednesday.

But Zuma did not hand himself in, instead asking the constitutional court to cancel its sentence and approaching the high court to issue an order — known as an interdict — to prevent his arrest.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, he lashed out at the judges that sentenced him and compared them to the white minority rulers he fought during the liberation struggle. Hundreds of his supporters, some of them armed, were gathered nearby at his rural homestead to prevent his arrest.

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Source: Reuters, Alexander Winning, Wendell Roelf