DA to have Zuma’s medical parole decision reviewed

7 September 2021

The DA will be taking legal steps to have the decision to grant medical parole to Jacob Zuma reviewed, as we believe this decision to be patently unlawful. We will, by way of an application to court, seek the record of decision that led to the granting of this parole.

If it turns out that the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, used his discretion to override the decision of a review panel, there is a specific process he would have had to follow.

This process includes obtaining a full medical report by independent doctors over and above Jacob Zuma’s own doctors. Such a report would need to be presented to the parole board and the relevant doctors, and only then can the Commissioner use his discretion to override the decision. Our review will seek to determine whether these steps took place and in the correct order.

It is crucial that this process is not manipulated for personal or political gain, particularly following the debacle twelve years ago when Schabir Shaik was granted medical parole on equally spurious grounds.

If our suspicions are confirmed by this record of decision, it will prove once again why the ANC should not be allowed to deploy its cadres to key positions across the state.

In the case of Arthur Fraser, his murky past as Zuma’s compromised spy boss should have disqualified him immediately from his promotion to prisons boss. It is highly unlikely that this deployment by President Ramaphosa, where he could continue to do the ANC’s bidding, was a coincidence.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 7 September 2021