South African President Jacob Zuma has been imprisoned by the country's highest court, as he is expected to spend 15 months or more in prison.
He was sentenced to prison on contempt charges, after he disobeyed an order to testify before a corruption inquiry that was examining the breathtaking financial crises that plagued his tenure as the country’s leader from 2009 to 2018.
On Tuesday, the constitutional court ruled that "the only suitable sentence is a straight, unsuspended order of imprisonment that lasts for 15 months."
This is the first time a former South African president has been ordered to jail since the end of apartheid. The case was a major test for the judiciary and the inquiry. The court asserted that Zuma ignored, undermined, and in many ways destroyed the rule of law.
"Zuma must surrender himself to the police by the end of this week. If he fails to do so, the the police must take all possible actions within three days to ensure that he is imprisoned." The court said.