South Africa’s Constitutional Court has spared former President Jacob Zuma from going to the jail for now by accepting his urgent application, and scheduled the next hearing on July 12.

“The hearing will take place on a virtual platform. Directions would be issued in due course,” Constitutional Court acting registrar Dunisani Mathiba said on Saturday.

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On June 29, the Constitutional Court had sentenced Zuma to 15 months in jail for being in contempt of court.

He was given five days to report at the police stations to be taken to prison to start serving his sentence.

He made an urgent application to the Constitutional Court to rescind its order.

The sentence came after Zuma refused to comply with the order of the court which ordered him to appear and testify at the state capture commission.

The country’s State Capture Inquiry accused Zuma of accepting bribes, gratification, and unauthorized payments from other parties in relation to the procurement of arms worth billions in 1999.

Zuma’s time in power, which ended in 2018, was dogged by graft allegations.

Businessmen along with politicians were accused of conspiracy in influencing the decision-making process.

The former President made one appearance at the inquiry into what has become known as “state capture” but then refused to appear subsequently.

In a separate legal matter, he pleaded not guilty last month in his corruption trial involving a $5 billion arms deal from the 1990s.