had not yet been delivered on his appeal against the cancellation of his medical parole. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on 21 November that the medical parole was unlawful, but allowed the national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services to consider whether the time he spent in parole would count towards his sentence. The Department of Correctional Services appealed the ruling to the Constitutional Court on 16 December. Personality and public image Zuma's "charisma and affable personality" is at the centre of his public image, and is thought to be responsible for much of his political popularity. His charisma is most fully on display at his political rallies, which sociologist Roger Southall describes as leaden with "political theatre" and "popular idiom", especially through song – his longstanding trademark is Umkhonto we Sizwe anthem "Umshini wami" (English: Bring Me My Machine Gun), but he also became associated with "Yinde lendlela" (English: It's a Long Journey) after the ANC's Mangaung conference in 2012. Journalist Alec Russell wrote in 2009, "When Zuma gets in front of these crowds, he is more than a politician: briefly, he becomes something closer to a revivalist preacher, or the leader of a cult." Zuma is known for his sense of humour, and to the disapproval of opposition politicians, as president he frequently joked during his addresses to Parliament, including the mockery of the Democratic Alliance's fixation on the Nkandla scandal. On 1 April 2015, his office released a statement about new cabinet appointments which was later revealed as an April Fools' Day prank on the media. Some have said that one factor in Zuma's popularity is what Southall calls "the politics of charismatic buffoonery". In one phrase, his public persona has been "constructed as sometimes slightly gormless, but warm and accessible". Mondli Makhanya wrote:Zuma’s other great strength was that he did not mind looking stupid. And so he sang and danced at will. Whereas other politicians use this as an election gimmick, Zuma did it all the time and genuinely seemed to enjoy it. In Parliament and on public platforms he laughed and giggled as if he had inhaled a potent hallucinogenic. The more stupid he looked, the more it seemed to endear him to the people. As a politician, he was viewed as an accessible figure – "a simple man, a man of the people", and a good listener. In a 2009 interview, Zuma