South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma has handed himself in to police to begin serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court. He was admitted to Estcourt Correctional Centre in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, the BBC reported.

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Police Ministry Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba confirmed late on Wednesday that Zuma was in the custody of the South African Police Service, after his foundation announced that he had decided to comply with an incarceration order issued by the Constitutional Court.

Zuma, 79, was handed the jail term last week after he failed to attend a corruption inquiry. The sentencing sparked an unprecedented legal drama in South Africa, which has never seen a former president jailed before. Zuma had initially refused to hand himself in, but in a short statement on Wednesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said he had "decided to comply". 

Zuma was sentenced on June 29 for defying an instruction to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power. He has testified only once at the inquiry into what has become known as "state capture" - meaning the siphoning off of state assets.

Businessmen have been accused of conspiring with politicians to influence the decision-making process while he was in office. But Zuma has repeatedly said that he is the victim of a political conspiracy.

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