Former South African president Jacob Zuma is handing himself over to police after being sentenced to 15 months in prison.

He was found to be in contempt of court after defying instructions to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in office.

The 79-year-old has been given until the end of last Sunday to hand himself in – and the police were instructed to arrest him by the end of Wednesday if he failed to do so.

Zuma has asked South Africa’s constitutional court to cancel his sentence on a number of grounds, including the risk of COVID-19.

However, a judge is only expected to rule on his application on Friday, meaning the police’s deadline was still in force.

On Twitter, the Jacob Zuma Foundation confirmed that the former president “has decided to comply with the incarceration order” and was on his way to a correctional services facility.

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