Mehmet Vefa Dag, a controversial politician, is finally serving a 90-day prison sentence following an administrative blunder, reports News24.

He was found in contempt of court after defamatory social media posts targeting the private school group Curro Holdings.

He had linked the school to people embroiled in rape and money-laundering.

Dag was initially expected to begin his sentence on Thursday, but just a few hours after arriving at Wynberg police station to surrender himself, he walked free and resumed posting on his social media accounts.

According to Curro Holdings, Dag – president of the Truth and Solidarity Movement political party – was allowed to go home due to ‘administrative mishaps’ by officials.

Mari Lategan, deputy CEO of Curro Holdings, said the group’s legal team had noted that committal to prison for civil contempt is a highly unusual process.

‘There was confusion among police officials and officials at court…’

She added that, according to Curro’s lawyers, the administrative errors do not affect the validity of the court order. 

By Friday, Dag was back in custody and was taken to Pollsmoor prison.

Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, said SAPS had no grounds for an arrest when Dag initially presented himself at the police station. It is understood that Dag did not have the J7 document and there was no warrant of arrest out for him.

Last month, Judge Constance Nziweni, of the Western Cape High Court, prohibited Dag from republishing any of the removed social media posts about Curro, making new statements, or verbally calling for Curro Holdings or its schools to be shut down.

In addition, he was interdicted from calling for the arrest or investigation of any of Curro’s directors or alleging the group is linked to, associated with, or responsible for child pornography or rape.

Full News24 report