For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Court says Zuma must go back to jail ; Loadshedding downgraded again, for now; And, Ramaphosa says Public participation enables State to make better decisions

Court says Zuma must go back to jail

The Supreme Court of Appeal has unanimously confirmed that the medical parole granted to former president Jacob Zuma by then-prison boss Arthur Fraser was unlawful – and it ruled he should return to jail.

In a decision written by Judge Tati Makgoka, the court stressed that the effect of its order that Zuma had unlawfully been granted medical parole was that Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence.

The court said Zuma must return to the [Estcourt] Correctional Centre to do so.

The Department of Correctional Services said it was still studying the ruling, which effectively put the decision about Zuma's future incarceration in its hands – with the caveat that the commissioner must be "empowered by law" to make a call on the impact of Zuma's time on medical parole on his 15-month sentence for contempt of the Constitutional Court.

Loadshedding downgraded again, for now

Eskom said today that Stage 4 loadshedding (instead of Stage 5) will be implemented continuously until 05:00 tomorrow morning.

Thereafter, Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented daily at 05:00 to 16:00.

Stage 4 will be implemented daily at 16:00 to 05:00 until further notice, the utility said. 

And, Ramaphosa says Public participation enables State to make better decisions

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that public participation in decision-making is democracy itself, and allows the State to make better decisions.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that public participation built trust between government, communities and stakeholders. He said it empowered citizens with the knowledge that their voices were heard. 

He highlighted that as the country’s democracy matured, the principle of participatory democracy had often been taken for granted.

Ramaphosa said public participation in the country’s democracy was not done superficially, as shown by the laws that were passed, and the way in which laws were considered and debated.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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