Correctional Services rejects reckless and misleading reports on Oscar Leonard Pistorius parole eligibility

20 September 2023

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) completely rejects reckless and misleading reports that it has admitted that offender Oscar Leonard Pistorius became eligible for parole six months ago and should already have been considered for release.

DCS has filed papers to the Constitutional Court in relation to an application brought forward by Mr Pistorius and has not made such reported admission which is clearly orchestrated to influence the decision of the apex court. We can confirm that clarification in our submission is sought in relation to multiple orders received from the Supreme Court of Appeal antedating the sentence date of offender Pistorius.

To be succinct, only an effective period of imprisonment of 15 years can be antedated to 21 October 2014. But an effective period of imprisonment of 13 years, 5 months, as ordered by the SCA, is to be antedated to 06 July 2016 because it is then that the Applicant had already served the 17 months.

The Department’s position is that, in the absence of any variation or rescission order of the 21 January 2021 order, that order stands to be obeyed until set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Not opposing the submission by the Applicant does not mean that we are admitting having acted otherwise and it is rejected that the media has interpreted this wholly incorrectly resulting in misleading headlines and reports which tarnish the image of correctional services.

We want to emphasize that the Department has to take into consideration court orders when admitting and calculating sentence periods, thus determining the minimum period for parole consideration.

Issued by Singabakho Nxumalo on behalf of Department of Correctional Services, 21 September 2023