Zuma has been serving a 15-month prison sentence since July 2021 for contempt of court after refusing to appear at an inquiry into corruption during his time as president.

Last month, Zuma was admitted to an outside hospital where he underwent surgeries for an undisclosed ailment, according to prison authorities.

Back in July, deadly violence erupted in South Africa after Zuma handed himself into custody, triggering widespread protests and looting as soldiers and police struggled to restore order.

Zuma is accused of corruption involving three businessmen brothers close to him Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta- and allowing them to influence government policy, including the hiring and firing of ministers to align with the family’s business interests.

“Medical parole placement for Mr Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires,” South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said in a statement on Sunday, September 5.

The DCS said it was “impelled” to grant Zuma medical parole after receiving a medical report.

“Apart from being terminally ill and physically incapacitated, inmates suffering from an illness that severely limits their daily activity or self-care can also be considered for medical parole,” the statement said.

The DCS appealed to South Africans “to afford Mr Zuma dignity as he continues to receive medical treatment.”

Zuma served as president from 2009 to 2018 and was once widely celebrated as a key figure in the country’s liberation movement as he spent 10 years in prison with former President Nelson Mandela

The Department of Correctional Services “can confirm that former president Jacob Zuma has today, 6 August 2021, been admitted to an outside hospital for medical observation,” it said in a statement.

Zuma is scheduled to attend the resumption of a long-running corruption trial on Aug. 10.

The hearing will include a plea to drop 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering against him related to the 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms when he was deputy president.

He is accused of taking bribes from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering. Proceedings have been repeatedly postponed for more than a decade, sparking accusations of delaying tactics.

In a separate case, Zuma was handed a 15-month jail sentence in late June for snubbing a commission probing state corruption under his 2009-19 presidency.

Zuma began his sentence on July 8 at Estcourt prison.

The country’s top court, which ordered Zuma jailed for refusing to appear before a corruption probe, is holding a review of its decision with a ruling expected later on whether the sentence will be upheld.

The 79-year-old former anti-apartheid fighter remains popular, especially in his native KwaZulu-Natal province where he is seen to embody traditional values.

KwaZulu-Natal was hit hard by protests over the weekend, and on Monday flames could be seen coming from the roof of a shopping centre in provincial capital Pietermaritzburg as hordes of people rushed in to loot.

In Eshowe, a town near Zuma’s Nkandla home, police opened fire to disperse crowds after a supermarket was ransacked early on Monday.

Police said some sections of a major road in Johannesburg had been closed because of the protests.

Dozens of cars were torched over the weekend in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, where protests erupted a day after Zuma was imprisoned on Thursday.

Police said dozens have been arrested.

Although some of the protests appear to have been triggered by Zuma’s 15-month detention for contempt of court, they are tied in with economic hardship and tightened restrictions brought on by a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2011, Muammar Gadaffi was caught and killed.

Implying that it “was another story about him that the paper had got wrong, Mr Zuma, however, has tweeted that he knows absolutely nothing about the allegations against him.

According to the Sunday Times, the money had been kept in a vault since 2011 in former President Zuma’s private home before it was then moved to eSwatini early this year.

The country’s monarch King, King Mswati III was aware, the Sunday Times also reported.

Mr Zuma’s successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, the paper alleged, also had knowledge of the cash movement.

And the Citizen news site has reported both South Africa and eSwatini denying the allegations.

“The story did not reflect realities on the ground,” Lindiwe Sisulu, South Africa’s International Relations Minister also said as he denied the allegations.

“There is no money that we are aware of and I spoke honestly and as the minister of international relations, I have not found any money that belongs to Libyans. If the Libyans make a request for us to investigate this matter, we will. The story on the front page [of the Sunday Times] doesn’t reflect the realities on the ground.”

And since white-minority rule ended in 1994, Jacob Zuma has been the most controversial president South Africa has ever seen.

And with a lot of scandals that surely would have ended one’s career, Mr Zuma has survived a total of seven major scandals between years 2005 – 2018.