Cape Town – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has reportedly confirmed that it has received former president Jacob Zuma’s medical report.
The report, which was filed with the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday, August 27, is relating to Zuma’s fitness to stand trial.
According to SABC, during the previous court proceedings, Judge Piet Koen gave Zuma’s team until August 20 to file the medical report.
However, the report was handed in a week after the deadline.
Koen also gave the state permission to obtain its own medical opinion on whether the former president was fit to stand trial.
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Zuma, 79, underwent surgery this month after he was admitted to hospital for observation on August 6 for an undisclosed condition, and he has remained there.
His long-running corruption trial over an arms deal dating back more than two decades was postponed to next month pending a medical report declaring his fitness for trial.
“I can confirm that Mr Zuma’s legal team has filed a medical report that relates to his state of health. It is a confidential document and we will make no further comments until the matter is heard in court,” Times Live quoted NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga as saying.
According to News24, Zuma’s advocate Dali Mpofu previously stated that it would only be after the former president’s doctors had compiled the report on his health that his lawyers would make a decision on whether to seek a longer postponement of his corruption case.
Last month, Zuma began serving a 15-month jail sentence in a separate case – for snubbing a commission probing state corruption under his 2009-2018 presidency.
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Additional reporting by AFP
