The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has rubbished claims that it has deployed soldiers to Nkandla to confront supporters of former president Jacob Zuma.

Dozens of supporters have camped at the homestead to “protect” Zuma from incarceration. This follows the judgment of the Constitutional Court which sentenced him to jail for 15 months for his refusal to testify before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.

“We would like to reassure South Africans not to be misled by these malicious reports intended to cause panic and chaos.

“The SANDF has not been deployed for any role in Nkandla,” said the SANDF in a statement.

Zuma has applied to the Constitutional Court to rescind its order on Tuesday that he is guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

On Friday, Zuma also urgently applied to the high court in Pietermaritzburg to stay the orders that required him to turn himself in by Sunday and to interdict the police from arresting him pending his rescission application to the Constitutional Court.

In the high court, he has also asked that the stay of imprisonment be kept in place pending a high court constitutional challenge to the “common law distinction of civil and contempt proceedings”.

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