The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed the decision that former President Jacob Zuma will not serve the remainder of his 15-month sentence in prison as announced by the correctional service leader on Friday.
The group said, “We are happy that finally this matter which divided society has been put behind us. We are alive to the reality that those opposed to the ANC and the enemy of the people of this country used this matter to divide the ANC and to cause social instability.
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“On this day we reiterate our commitment to rebuild the unity and renew the soul and fibre of the ANC, restoring it to its founding values of dedication to servicing our people with honesty and dignity, respect and humility.”
On Friday morning, Ronald Lamola, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, and Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale briefed the media, announcing that Zuma arrived at the Estcourt Correctional Facility at 6 a.m.
While Thobakgale took the decision to re-incarcerate Zuma, Lamola announced that the new Remission of Sentence process would be applied to Zuma, and he was then released to go free.
According to the ANC in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, the department ensured Zuma’s repatriation to Estcourt Correctional Facility in order to comply with the Supreme Court of Appeal verdict.
“We pause to salute the department for meticulously following due processes in the management of this matter,” it said.
The provincial branch of the ANC also hailed President Cyril Ramaphosa “for doing what is in the best interest of the country by granting a special remission paving the way for the release of (Zuma)”.
The ANC KZN said, “We wish to express our revolutionary appreciation to the ANC structures and the people of this province for remaining calm over the past month.
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“We thank them for heeding our call in terms of exercising restraint and for allowing leadership and those entrusted with a responsibility to manage this delicate matter to do so in line with the laws of the country.”
It went on to say that the provincial branch reminded the people of KZN last month that the Department of Correctional Services, under a democratic government, controlled its correctional services system based on the Freedom Charter.