Johannesburg – The Helen Suzman Foundation has joined a chorus of disapproval against former President Jacob Zuma’s medical parole and demands answers from Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and Commissioner Arthur Fraser.
In a lawyers’ letter fired off this week, the foundation has given both Lamola and Fraser until 5pm on Monday to explain the decision.
The former president was initially sentenced to 15 months in prison, which he began serving in July, for refusing to return to the state capture commission and ignoring a Constitutional Court order compelling him to.
Two months later, he’s in hospital with an undisclosed medical condition, but has played a part in him being granted parole.
While Fraser says he acted within his mandate to grant Zuma medical parole, the Helen Suzman Foundation said this was against the law.
In an interview with the SABC this week, Fraser admitted that the medical parole advisory board had in fact advised the parole after examining Zuma. That’s after determining that he was in a stable condition.
“Our impression is that generally, the commissioner is not permitted to overrule the opinion of the board that is constituted for matters of medical parole, but we’re obviously waiting for the records of the decisions,” said the foundation’s legal counsel Anton van Dalsen.
