Jacob Zuma still in hospital and consulting lawyers, says foundation

Former president Jacob Zuma is meeting his legal team in hospital to discuss a range of issues, the JG Zuma Foundation said on Tuesday.

Zuma is “still in hospital but he is going to be engaging with his lawyers on a whole range of issues”, foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said.

The meeting comes soon after Zuma was placed on medical parole, and 58 days after he was admitted as an inmate at the Estcourt Correctional Services facility in KwaZulu-Natal where he was serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

Earlier on Tuesday Zuma’s special plea hearing seeking to remove prosecutor Billy Downer from his arms deal corruption trial was postponed to later this month for the state to consider his medical evidence.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said that the hearing was to be postponed “virtually by consent of all the parties to September 20 and 21, to enable the state-appointed medical team of specialists to consider the medical evidence in co-operation with Mr Zuma’s medical team”.

He said the state will give no further details on the matter as Zuma’s medical records are confidential.

In the criminal case the former president faces 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering. His co-accused, the French arms company Thales, faces four counts.

Among the allegations is that Zuma received an annual kickback of R500,000 paid through his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik in exchange for shielding Thales from an investigation into the controversial arms deal.