South Africa former president Jacob Zuma will hand himself over to serve 15 months in jail for contempt of court, his foundation said on Wednesday, the first indication yet that Zuma is willing to serve his prison term. The constitutional court gave Zuma a 15-month jail term last week for defying an instruction earlier this year to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power until 2018. Police had been instructed to arrest him by the end of Wednesday if he failed to do turn himself in. South African TV stations carried images of Zuma’s motorcade leaving his house. The statement said: “Dear South Africans and the world. Please be advised that president Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order. He is on his way to hand himself into a correctional services facility in KZN.” A further statement would follow later, it said. Zuma’s decision to obey the Constitutional Court order comes after a week of rising tensions over his prison sentence. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt because he defied a court order for him to testify before a judicial commission investigating widespread allegations of corruption during his time as the country’s president, from 2009 to 2018. The Constitutional Court ordered that if Zuma did not voluntarily hand himself over to the police then the police should arrest the country’s former president by the end of the day Wednesday. In a last-minute plea to avoid going to prison, Zuma’s lawyers had written to the acting chief justice requesting that his arrest be suspended until Friday, when a regional court is to rule on his application to postpone the arrest. His lawyers asked the acting chief justice to issue directives stopping the police from arresting him, claiming there would be a “prejudice to his life.” The top court met late Wednesday, according to local reports, but apparently rejected the request. Zuma had also launched two court proceedings to avoid arrest after his sentence last week. Political tensions have risen in KwaZulu-Natal province as a result of Zuma’s conviction, sentence and pending arrest. Hundreds of his supporters gathered at his home over the weekend and vowed to prevent his arrest, but they left on Sunday.