Amid conflicting reports and rumours of a discharge, it appears Jacob Zuma was still in St Anne’s Hospital yesterday, having been admitted the previous week for undisclosed reasons.
News24 reports that Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni had cautioned the public against violating MK Party leader Zuma’s privacy by demanding to know the reasons for his hospitalisation, saying in a special briefing on Sunday that his health status should be respected and that the former President was “under the care of the SA National Defence Force surgeon general”.
On Sunday, News24 reported that during the week, Zuma’s family allegedly refused to have him airlifted to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria for treatment, insisting instead that he remain in KwaZulu-Natal.
The family was said to be concerned about moving him to Gauteng in light of a poor relationship with President Cyril Ramaphosa. The decision caused the government to dispatch a team of specialist doctors to KZN last Friday to treat the 84-year-old. The team includes specialists and a resuscitation expert.
But another source said Zuma could not be moved to 1 Military Hospital because “it was too risky” for his condition. A person close to the proceedings said the group that was dispatched falls under a highly specialised category of handling a serious health situation.
“The government didn’t want to go against the family’s wish for fear that if anything happened, they would be accused of killing him,” a source said.
While initial reports were that Zuma was critically ill, by Friday afternoon, reports of his progress had shifted to stable.
The MKP had previously said Zuma was at the hospital for a routine check-up and had already been discharged.
Medical parole
The latest medical episode comes after Zuma’s controversial 2021 medical parole, which was ultimately declared unlawful by the courts.
In September 2021, then-national commissioner of Correctional Services Arthur Fraser granted Zuma medical parole while he was serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court.
Fraser cited a medical report and stated that medical parole was available where an inmate was terminally ill, physically incapacitated, or had an illness severely limiting daily activity or self-care.
However, the Medical Parole Advisory Board had concluded that, while Zuma suffered from “multiple comorbidities”, he was not terminally ill and did not meet the required physical incapacity threshold. The board, therefore, did not recommend medical parole.
Fraser publicly acknowledged that the board did not approve parole because Zuma was considered to be in a “stable condition”, but he over-rode the recommendation anyway.
On 15 December 2021, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) reviewed and set aside Fraser’s decision, substituted it with a rejection of Zuma’s medical parole application, ordered that Zuma return to custody, and ruled that the period spent out of prison on medical parole would not count towards his sentence.
On 21 November 2022, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that, where the Medical Parole Advisory Board makes a negative recommendation, the commissioner cannot lawfully grant medical parole.
The available court record did not establish a specific publicly disclosed diagnosis for Zuma’s condition.
Recent health concerns
In July 2025, social media and WhatsApp groups circulated claims that Zuma had become ill and been taken to a hospital in KZN.
However, Magasela Mzobe, head of the MK Party presidency, denied the hospitalisation claims, stating: “He has never been to hospital and he has never been sick.”
Zuma appeared at Durban Magistrate’s Court on 11 July 2025 to support July unrest accused Bonginkosi Khanyile. He appeared healthy, though he declined to answer journalists’ questions about his health.
The current medical episode represents the latest chapter in the ongoing tension between the Zuma family and government authorities over the former president’s healthcare and the public communication surrounding it.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Applicants seek to exploit cracks in Jacob Zuma’s medical parole defence
Top specialists find Zuma fit for trial, fuelling scepticism over earlier medical parole
Zuma and Military Health Service ‘very aggrieved’ over NPA-appointed examination
Zuma’s ‘ life-threatening emergency’ again spotlights the weaponising of medical testimony