The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to President Kgalema Motlanthe, requesting that he follow through on an undertaking given during a meeting yesterday that he will consider establishing a probe into the release on medical parole of Schabir Shaik. We would welcome any such step from the Presidency.

However, we have also pointed out to the President that there still remains a built-in statutory mechanism which has not been invoked in this process - the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board, chaired by Judge Siraj Desai. It is quite within the President's power to request that his Minister of Correctional Services forward the matter of Shaik's parole to the Review Board, and we would urge President Motlanthe to make this his first step.

Yesterday the Minister of Correctional Services reportedly said he had been ‘vindicated' by the release of a document that showed how two Durban medical practitioners had requested that Shaik be granted medical parole. Nothing could be further from the truth. The letter demonstrated quite conclusively that Shaik was not suffering from a terminal illness, and was certainly not in the final phase of such an illness, as is specifically required for medical parole to be granted in terms of section 79 of the Correctional Services Act.

Indeed, for the first time we have concrete evidence that Mr Shaik's parole was recommended on incorrect grounds. If the Minister believes otherwise, it beggars belief that he would still refrain from asking for the Parole Review Board to reassess the matter. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose from doing so - and the fact that he has not done so speaks volumes.

But the President is to be commended for recognising the seriousness of the allegations being levelled at the process surrounding Mr Shaik's release on parole; and he is well placed to instruct the Minister to have this process reviewed. Failing an assessment by the Parole Review Board, we would welcome any creditable independent probe into the Shaik parole.

Statement issued by James Selfe MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on correctional services, March 11 2009

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email service