Former South African President, Jacob Zuma, has reported in prison.
The country’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola went to see him at Escourt Correctional Services in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday.
It was learnt that the former president delivered himself to the facility a few hours before the midnight deadline the court gave him.
He is to serve 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court for repeatedly refusing to appear before a commission investigating government corruption during his 9-year rule.
The facility is situated in the small town of Escourt in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. It used to be an old facility roofed with corrugated iron before it was demolished and rebuilt to a modern facility.
The construction gulped R387 million (N11.6 billion) and was commissioned in May 2019.
The prison can accommodate around 500 inmates and has a hospital section offering 24-hour medical attention. It also has a workshop, a training centre and accommodation for officials.
The head of the centre, Mpumi Hadebe, told reporters on Thursday Zuma would have access to a television, but not a cell phone as such devices were banned by the Department of Correctional Services.
“He will have access to the public phone. If he wants to have contact with anyone that he needs to contact, then he’ll have access to the public phone. Wherever he is, there is a public phone (and) he will have access.”
Zuma will be entitled to a maximum of four visits a month, but no prison visits are currently allowed because of Covid-19 pandemic.
