Tebogo Msimanga ”
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says the granting of medical parole to former president Jacob Zuma by the Department of Correctional Services is entirely unlawful and makes a mockery of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act of 2011.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) on Sunday ,05 September 2021 confirmed that Zuma has been placed on medical parole.
Steenhuisen said following the debacle around the granting of unlawful medical parole to Schabir Shaik in 2009, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services unanimously supported the amendment of Section 79 of the Act to stipulate that:
“The Minister must establish a medical advisory board to provide an independent medical report to the National Commissioner, Correctional Supervision and Parole Board or the Minister, as the case may be, in addition to the medical report referred to in subsection (2)(c)”
He added that a report on the health status of any prisoner must be subject to recommendation by an independent board to confirm, in truth, that a prisoner is indeed deserving of medical parole. “Given that Jacob Zuma publicly refused to be examined by an independent medical professional, let alone a medical advisory board, this decision is a violation of the Act and therefore unlawful.”
Meanwhile, the civil rights organisation, Afriforum said it is currently in consultation with its legal team about the possibility to apply for an urgent review application.
Head of Policy and Action at AfriForum Ernst Roets said that the release of Zuma on medical parole is a blatant violation of justice that cannot merely be accepted.
