Zuma foundation mum on discharge date, as hospital bill piles up

While it remains unclear who’s paying for the increasing medical costs of former president Jacob Zuma’s hospital stay, his foundation has refused to give an indication as to when he might be discharged.

On Wednesday the foundation announced it would not announce when the former president would be discharged from hospital “due to security reasons”.

“Due to a frenzy of media enquiries, the Foundation wishes to advise that due to security reasons, the discharge of H.E. President Zuma from the hospital will not be announced,” the foundation said.

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“At the right time, subject to Correctional Services conditions, further announcements will be made.”

Zuma has escaped his 15-month sentence for court contempt, after spending weeks of his incarceration in the medical wing of the prison before he was moved to an external hospital for further treatment.

He is currently out on controversial medical parole, which has sparked debate around abuse of power.

It remains unclear who will be paying for Zuma’s medical costs after last week’s announcement by correctional services that the department was engaged in talks regarding the payment of a R398,000 at a private hospital, as he still enjoys presidential privileges.

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“To date, we have been billed for R398,271,” correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said last week as the bill piled up.

Last month Zuma had a surgical procedure and the department announced that other procedures were scheduled at the time.

It also could not give indication on the discharge of the former president.

“As a result, DCS is unable to predict a discharge date as our priority at this stage is for Mr Zuma to be afforded the best care possible.”