Cape Town – The Jacob Zuma foundation has described the move by the Correctional Services Department to place former president Jacob Zuma on medical parole as “an act of humility by the justice system,” a report says, but opposition parties say it’s “a mockery of the South African law”.
According to Eye Witness News, the foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said Zuma’s legal team was currently studying the conditions of the parole.
“If truth be told, if there was humanness in that Constitutional Court, they should have put him on house arrest if they felt so desperate to arrest him in the first place,” the report quoted Manyi as saying.
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Zuma, who was jailed for 15 months for contempt of court after snubbing graft investigators, was on Sunday granted medical parole.
The 79-year-old has been hospitalised since August 6 at a health facility outside the prison where he had been incarcerated for ignoring a court order to testify before a judicial panel probing corruption during his nine-year tenure which lasted until 2018.
The Department of Correctional Services said in a statement on Sunday that “Mr Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma has been placed on medical parole”.
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The parole took effect on Sunday and he will serve out the rest of the 15-month prison sentence outside jail.
“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,” it said.
The decision to grant parole was motivated “by a medical report” the department received, it said.
Meanwhile, News24 reported on Monday that prisons boss Arthur Fraser signed off on Zuma’s medical parole just two weeks before his contract was set to expire, and not be renewed.
The report quoted sources as saying that Fraser’s contract as Correctional Services National Commissioner was set to expire on September 25, and his contract would not be renewed.
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Following the news of Zuma’s release, AfriForum reportedly said it was set to challenge the decision, as it viewed it as a “violation of justice”.
According to Times Live, the civil rights group said it was “in consultation with its legal team about the possibility to apply for an urgent review application”.
“The release of Zuma on medical parole is a very clear signal that people in this country are still being treated based on their political connections. This is a serious breach of justice and is something against which a very strong stance should be taken,” the report quoted Ernst Roets, head of policy and action at AfriForum as saying.
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The One South Africa Movement (OSA) led by Mmusi Maimane said it wanted more clarity regarding how the Department of Correctional Services reached its decision.
“The One South Africa Movement (OSA) will submit a formal application in terms of the promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) , requesting the full record of decision that led to the Department of Correctional Services granting former president Jacob Zuma medical parole.
“This is crucial to ensure the public id taken into confidence that government’s decision was in good faith, and is furnished with both the reasons and the rationale behind such decision,” OSA said in a statement.
Press statement.
The nation deserves a thorough explanation on the decision to grant Zuma medical parole. pic.twitter.com/2dzJXogtcW
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) September 5, 2021
OSA continued: “Today’s news that Zuma has been granted medical parole is a questionable one considering that Zuma’s spy boss, Arthur Fraser, currently heads up Correctional Services as National Commissioner.”
The opposition Democratic Alliance concurred with OSA, adding that the decision to grant Zuma parole was more political than based on medical reasoning.
“The president (Cyril Ramaphosa) should have had the backbone to offer a presidential pardon, rather than going to the charade to like we have seen with Shabir Shaik, who is still fit and well today, but he was given medical parole many, many years ago, when it was clear that there was no real case to be made,” SABC quoted DA Leader John Steenhuisen as saying.
Steenhuisen said he wanted to establish what criteria the Department of Correctional Services used to determine Zuma’s eligibility for medical parole.
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“I will also request that the Justice and Correctional Services Committee summon Arthur Fraser to explain to Parliament his decision to grant the medical parole in direct contravention of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act,” he said.
According to The Citizen, Steenhuisen said the Department of Correctional Services’ decision “makes a mockery of South African law”.
“It is entirely unlawful and makes a mockery of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act of 2011,” he said.
Steenhuisen said an independent board should have confirmed if the patient in question – in this case, Zuma – was indeed deserving of medical parole.
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Meantime, Zuma’s long-running corruption trial over an arms deal dating back more than two decades was last month postponed to September 9, pending a medical report on his fitness to stand trial.
Proceedings have repeatedly been postponed for more than a decade as Zuma fought to have the charges dropped.
Zuma faces 16 counts of fraud, graft and racketeering related to the 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms when he was deputy president.
He is accused of taking bribes from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
