The DA has appealed to former president Jacob Zuma’s supporters to respect the North Gauteng High Court ruling declaring his medical parole invalid and setting it aside and ordering him to return to prison and not to resort to violence instead.

DA leader John Steenhuisen on Wednesday asked Zuma’s supporters not to repeat the ugly scenes that led to widespread looting of shops and left hundreds of people dead in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng when he was jailed for 15 months for contempt of a Constitutional Court order forcing him to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture. We appeal to Mr Zuma and his supporters to respect the rule of law and to accept this judgment without resorting to further violence and protest,” Steenhuisen said.

He added that Judge Keoagile Matojane’s ruling confirmed that Zuma is an ordinary citizen with no special privileges and that the law applies equally to him as it does to any other person.

“It is never pleasant for anyone to go to jail, but Mr Zuma knew very well what the consequences would be for his blatant disregard for the law and the authority of the Constitutional Court,” added Steenhuisen.

Judge Matojane ordered the former head to state to return to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for which medical parole was granted by former Correctional Services national commissioner Arthur Fraser in September. The DA, alongiside the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) and AfriForum challenged Fraser’s decision.