Ex-President Jacob Zuma has lashed out at the judges who gave him a 15-month jail term for absconding from a corruption inquiry.

Mr Zuma compared them to the White minority apartheid rulers he once fought.

He spoke at his home in Nklandla, in a rural part of Kwazulu Natal province, where hundreds of his supporters, some of them armed, were gathered to prevent his arrest.

“The fact that I was lambasted with a punitive jail sentence without trial should engender shock in all those who believe in freedom and the rule of law. South Africa is fast sliding back to apartheid rule,’’ Mr Zuma told journalists.

The constitutional court sentenced Mr Zuma on Tuesday for contempt of court for failing to appear at a hearing in February of the inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

On Saturday, it agreed to hear his challenge to the jail term, suspending it until after a hearing on July 12. The sentence was seen as a sign of just how far Mr Zuma, once revered as a veteran of the struggle against White minority rule, has fallen since embarking on a presidency beset by multiple sleazes and graft scandals between 2009 and 2018.

On Sunday, the former president reiterated his view that he is the victim of a political witchhunt and that Mr Zondo is partial.

“Judge Zondo began to … treat me unfairly and with bias,’’ Mr Zuma said.

The 79-year-old has applied to the court for the sentence to be annulled because it was excessive and could expose him to COVID-19, which “would put him at the highest risk of death.’’

Earlier on Sunday, gunshots rang out across Nklandla, as some of his supporters fired their weapons into the air, while others danced with spears and ox-hide shields – the traditional weapons of Mr Zuma’s Zulu nation.

“I fought and went to prison, so there must be justice and the rule of law. No honest person can accuse me of being against the rule of law,’’ Mr Zuma told journalists.

The former president’s legal woes have divided the ruling African National Congress between his camp and that of his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mr Zuma gave in to pressure to quit and yield to Ramaphosa in 2018. He has since faced inquiries into allegations of corruption, dating from his time as president and before.

The Zondo Commission is examining allegations that he allowed three Indian-born businessmen, Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh Gupta, to plunder state resources and traffic influence over government policy.

He and the Gupta brothers, who fled to Dubai after Mr Zuma was ousted, deny any wrongdoing.

The ex-president also faces a separate court case relating to a $2 billion arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president. He denied the charges.

(Reuters/NAN)