Johannesburg - THE Jacob Zuma Foundation has confirmed that former President Jacob Zuma is attending his annual medical routine check-up.
It said there was no need to be alarmed.
The Department of Correctional Services said the 79-year-old Zuma had been admitted to an outside hospital for medical observation today. He is being treated by the South African Military Health Service..
“The foundation confirms the statement by correctional services that indeed Zuma is in hospital outside the prison. The 79-year old, and the first prisoner of the Constitutional Court, jailed without trial is attending his annual medical routine check up. No need to be alarmed…yet,” said the foundation in a Tweet.
The Constitutional Court found Zuma guilty of contempt of court. He was sent to Estcourt Correctional Services facility in KwaZulu-Natal last month.
Correctional Service spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the health of inmates was addressed under Section 35(2) of the Constitution.
It obliges the Department of Correctional Services to ensure that “everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity, including at least exercise and the provision, at state expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment,” said Nxumalo.
“As a former president, the health-care needs of Zuma require the involvement of the South African Military Health Services. This has been the case since his admission at Estcourt Correctional Centre.”
Nxumalo added that routine observation prompted Zuma to be taken for in-hospitalisation.
Political Bureau