Jacob Zuma to file urgent application against ConCourt ruling, KZN prison identified for sentence

• On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court sentenced Jacob Zuma to prison for 15 months.
• In a stinging majority judgment, the apex court found that he was in contempt of court.
• The court was considering a State Capture Inquiry application to have Zuma found guilty of contempt for failing to appear before the commission.

Former president Jacob Zuma is expected to file an urgent application for the rescission of the Constitutional Court ruling in terms of which he was sentenced him to 15 months in prison for contempt.

Zuma's legal team – led by advocate Dali Mpofu, SC – has also indicated to the state that the former president will urgently seek to stay the implementation of the order for his arrest and committal in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court found that Zuma was in contempt of court for not obeying an instruction to appear before the Zondo Commission. It sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

The court ruled that Zuma had five days to report to either the Johannesburg Central police station or the Nkandla police station, before being shepherded to prison.

If Zuma does not comply, the court has instructed the police minister and the national police commissioner to lawfully ensure that he is taken into custody within three days.

As News24 broke the news of Zuma's urgent application, it emerged that the Constitutional Court had confirmed that the former president would serve his sentence at Westville Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.

Acting Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe signed a warrant of committal for former Zuma. The letter was signed on 30 June.

Late on Wednesday night, the JG Zuma Foundation released a statement in which it denounced the majority judgment which sentenced him to imprisonment.

While Zuma has claimed to be a victim of "political gimmicks", he failed to defend the case in the Constitutional Court when he had the opportunity.

Instead he wrote a 21-page letter to the court in which he said he would not submit an affidavit, as requested by the court. He accused the court of exhibiting "political gimmicks".

The foundation labelled the judgment "judicially emotional and angry", as well as "not consistent with our Constitution".

Zuma previously accused State Capture Inquiry chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, of bias, citing a potential conflict of interest over an alleged previous friendship between the two men. The deputy chief justice denied all Zuma's claims.

The former president used the claim as the basis for walking out of the state capture commission, an inquiry he signed off on.

He never explained why he did not raise his concerns about Zondo when ratifying his appointment as the head of the commission.

The foundation posted a message to Twitter to say that Zuma would "definitely" address the nation sometime this weekend.

It previously tweeted that there was a possibility Zuma would speak out earlier this week but this did not happen.

- Additional reporting by Sheldon Morais