Zuma starts serving jail term: What you should know, in 500 words

South Africa’s ex-president was sentenced last week to 15 months in jail for failing to show up at corruption inquiry.

It was late on Wednesday, shortly before a midnight deadline, that former South African President Jacob Zuma left his homestead in Nkandla in a convoy of vehicles to turn himself over to police. Prison authorities later confirmed that the 79-year-old had been admitted at a correctional facility in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal to start serving a 15-month jail sentence handed to him by the Constitutional Court last week for contempt of court. Zuma’s compliance with the imprisonment order, after days of refusing to do so, brought an end to an impasse that had gripped South Africa. Here is what you need to know about the case.