Team JZ: Supporters gathered outside Jacob Zuma’s house in Nkandla before he handed himself over to police. (AFP)
Intense talks between police bosses, the ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership and members of former president Jacob Zuma’s family resulted in him handing himself over to begin serving his 15-month sentence minutes before the deadline for his arrest at midnight on Wednesday.
The last-minute agreement saw Zuma surrendering to the police and being whisked off by the presidential protection unit to the Estcourt Correctional Centre, the low security facility where he is likely to serve just over three and a half months of his sentence for contempt of court.
Earlier in the day a huge contingent of police officials had gathered at Empangeni before heading for Nkandla ahead of Zuma’s deadline in anticipation of resistance from his supporters or a subsequent backlash.
The show of force turned out to be unnecessary, despite the talks with Zuma hitting a number of snags during the course of the evening.
According to several sources inside the Zuma household, on Wednesday night there were numerous points when negotiators were exasperated that Zuma was not budging.
“There was no fighting at all but it took some time to get him to agree,” said one source.
Another said when Zuma did agree to hand himself over, it was with words to the effect that he will “live to fight another day”.
At some point in the night another source said national police commissioner Khehla Sitole, ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli, Zuma and his daughter Dudu Zuma were in one room discussing his options.
The talks with the police commissioner had begun on Tuesday night.
“Sitole was in talks with Zuma throughout the night. The old man had been reluctant to comply with the police until Sitole threatened to take the [presidential] protection unit away and bring in another unit,” one source said.
According to the sources, Zuma was clear that whatever happened, his supporters should not resort to violence to try to prevent him being arrested.
“One thing he kept saying was that he doesn’t want any blood spilt in his yard. And that was the main thing for him because he knew if he didn’t go willingly, it would be,” said another source. “No one wanted that. But he wasn’t angry or anything. On the contrary he was making jokes. That’s his way of masking his real feelings.”
The agreement to imprison Zuma in the Estcourt prison, rather than in Westville prison, a higher security facility, was reached after the former president complained about serving his time at a maximum security facility.
The court had ordered that Zuma be held at Westville prison, a medium security facility that houses long-term prisoners in its medium B section. But an agreement was secured with the department of correctional services that Zuma be held at a lower security facility.
A source in the correctional services department said the security plan for Zuma’s arrest had begun early on Wednesday, with a cell being prepared for him at the Estcourt prison earlier in the day.
The prison, opened in 2019, holds about 500 low risk offenders and is equipped with a medical wing. It caters mainly for older prisoners and those qualifying for vocational training.
“The decision was taken that the former president would be accommodated at Estcourt, instead of Westville, as he is not likely to be qualified as a high risk offender. The medical facility at Estcourt is state of the art,” the source said.
This obviously nods to Zuma’s arguments, in papers filed to the constitutional court as part of his rescission bid, that his health is so precarious that prison may prove a death sentence.
As midnight loomed, it was also clear that Zuma had no legal way of averting arrest. His lawyers had addressed a letter to the constitutional court asking that it vary its initial order and stay his committal pending the outcome of the rescission application.
A formal application to this effect was out of the question because ruling on one to the same effect is pending in the high court in Pietermaritzburg. Judge Bhekisisa Mnguni’s ruling, due on Friday, now becomes moot because the arrest has been effected and the apex court will hear the rescission application on Monday.
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