JOHANNESBURG - Former President Jacob Zuma must return to prison until the acting Correctional Services Commissioner decides on the status of his release.
READ: Zuma Medical Parole | ConCourt dismisses bid to overturn SCA ruling
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court denied the Correctional Services Department's request to overturn a previous Supreme Court of Appeal verdict.
Political analyst from Nelson Mandela University, Ongama Mtimka says there needs to be a cost-benefit analysis regarding this matter.
He said, "so about the legal aspects, I think one thing that I am happy about is the clarity provided that a commissioner cannot act despite a report from the medical board."
"I think there was a degree of ambiguity in the act there, now that it has been clarified by the court it helps to prevent an occurrence of a similar nature in future."
"Politically, this is an interesting one for government in particular. We know that when former president was arrested in 2021 it resulted in riots. I doubt that the faction that supports former president Jacob Zuma has the political power to carry out the same acts of looting or encourage the same looting as they did back then. But we cannot leave that to chance."
"The state needs to make a determination as how likely that can be a result. A cost benefit analysis has got to be made."