Johannesburg - Recently incarcerated former President Jacob Zuma’s bid to stay out of prison until his Concourt hearing, next week, has been dismissed with costs, on Friday.
Judge Jerome Mnguni handed down the judgment so quickly that if you blinked, you missed it.
For now, Zuma will remain behind bars.
Zuma turned himself in to police, on Wednesday, to begin his 15-month span in jail for contempt of court.
Zuma, who was meant to hand himself over to the authorities, by Sunday, ignored the court order. Police were instructed to arrest him by Wednesday, despite his legal bid to interdict them from executing the arrest.
In a virtual hearing that lasted less than five minutes, Judge Mnguni allowed all legal council representatives to introduce themselves and then handed down his judgement in a quick one liner.
“The application is dismissed with costs with such costs to include those of senior council,” Judge Mnguni said.
On Tuesday, Judge Jerome Mnguni heard Zuma’s application to stop the arrest but reserved his judgment to the end of the week.
During presentation of arguments, opposing counsel legal teams labelled Zuma as a “repetitive, recalcitrant law-breaker”.
Judge Mnguni heard lengthy arguments from the head of Zuma's legal team, Advocate Dali Mpofu, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who represented the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and Advocate Max Du Plessis, who represented the Helen Suzman Foundation, that opposed the application with the Commission's Chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Zuma, who handed himself over at the Estcourt Correctional Facility will remain behind bars. His bid to the Constitutional Court to rescind its decision to send him to jail will be heard on July 12.
Political Bureau