Cape Town — Former president Jacob Zuma's bid to stay out of prison until his Constitutional Court hearing next week, has been dismissed with costs by Judge Jerome Mnguni at the Pietermaritzburg High Court today.

This follows a week of high drama as Zuma reported to the Estcourt Correctional Facility in KwaZulu Natal on July 7, 2021, after he was sentenced to a 15-month jail term for disregarding a direct Constitutional Court order to appear at the Zondo Commission to testify on allegations of his involvement in State Capture. The allegations against Zuma and his personal friends, the Gupta brothers, has had a direct impact on the governance of South Africa, and has seen spiralling, widespread corruption that saw trillions go missing from state coffers.

On July 6, 2021 Judge Mnguni heard Zuma's application to stop the arrest but reserved his judgment to July 9, 2021.

In his one liner judgement today, Judge Mnguni said: "The application is dismissed with costs with such costs to include those of senior counsel."

Zuma now has to wait for the Constitutional Court hearing and the arguments from his lawyers on why he should be freed on the contempt of court charge.