Cape Town – Former South African president Jacob Zuma has expressed gratitude to the former national commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser for granting him medical parole.
In June 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail for being in contempt of court after snubbing graft investigators.
A few months into serving his prison sentence, Zuma was hospitalised and in September 2021, he was granted medical parole.
“Medical parole placement for Mr Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires,” the Department of Correctional Services said in a statement.
The decision to grant Zuma medical parole was heavily criticised by other South African politicians.
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According to The Citizen, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said the Department of Correctional Services’ decision “makes a mockery of South African law”.
“It’s entirely unlawful and makes a mockery of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act of 2011,” Steenhuisen said.
However, reports indicated on Wednesday that Zuma hailed the decision made by Fraser, saying that it should be “applauded as exemplary leadership that is required under our constitution”.
According to TimesLive, Zuma said this in papers filed with the Constitutional Court.
“I am grateful for it. Without such intervention, I may well not have been alive to depose to this affidavit,” the report quoted him as saying.
Zuma is currently battling the directions of commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale who brought forward an application in the apex court to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA)’s ruling that his release from prison on medical parole was unlawful and that he should return to prison.
Zuma said that he felt the ruling by the SCA was “completely way off the mark”.
“The applicants bear the obligation to place before the court all relevant information. They failed to do so and insisted on arguing I did not suffer any medical condition which justified the granting of medical parole. This was unduly reversing the onus,” Zuma was quoted as saying.
“I had been advised I was entitled to do this and that only a court could, on proper application by the parties, access protected medical information.
“The political organisations refused to challenge my right to assert medical privilege. And yet they continued to contend there was no medical basis for the commissioner’s decision. This is a legal absurdity.
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“Without a full medical record, it cannot be held that the commissioner acted irrationally or unreasonably.
“Faced with the possibility that I faced death itself while in prison, it could never be unreasonable nor irrational for the commissioner to have granted me medical parole, bearing in mind my incarceration was in the middle of a deadly pandemic,” Zuma repoetedly added.
In October 2021, Fraser reportedly revealed the reason why he released Zuma on medical parole.
According to News24, Fraser said in an affidavit filed at the Gauteng Court in Pretoria that it was not because of his “perceived relationship” with him.
Fraser said he was driven by fears of unrest if Zuma’s health was “recklessly” put at risk.
“I also submit that [Zuma’s] political standing had nothing to do with his placement on medical parole,” the report quoted Fraser as saying at the time.
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
