Former president Jacob Zuma's medical parole is unlikely to be revoked even if his health improves as this is not considered to be grounds to cancel parole.
According to the department of correctional services, an inmate who has been released on medical parole can only be sent back to jail if they violate their parole conditions.
“Improved medical health will not be a ground to cancel medical parole,” said correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo.
Zuma's parole conditions are not yet publicly known.
The department said on Tuesday it had received 52 applications from other inmates seeking to be released on medical parole since the beginning of the year but less than half qualified. Though the department did not give the category of the prisoners and what sentences they were serving, it said of the 52 who applied for medical parole, 22 were rejected.
Zuma's release from prison on medical parole has fuelled debate and attracted sharp scrutiny of the parole system with increased calls for transparency.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday said Zuma's ill health will also be the subject of scrutiny by a state-appointed medical team of specialists who will consider the medical evidence in co-operation with Zuma's medical team.
The NPA also confirmed that Zuma's special plea hearing seeking to remove prosecutor Billy Downer from his arms deal corruption trial will be postponed until later this month.
Former chair of the Medical Parole Advisory Board, Dr Victor Ramathesele, said the sentence that a prisoner is serving determines where the decision to grant parole is made. He said the pleas of anyone serving two years or less can be decided by the commissioner, anything between that and life is decided by the parole board and those serving even longer sentences will have their pleas heard by the minister.
But getting parole on medical grounds can be a cumbersome process that entails a prisoner being subjected to more than one medical examination by different doctors and a panel of experts interrogating the documentation to see if indeed the offender is too ill to remain in jail.
Ramathesele said even those with the threat of death hanging over their heads must be examined and reports are debated by medical experts who then recommend whether they be released or not.
He said the board looks at whether a person is terminally ill – meaning he can die within six months – physically injured to a point he cannot take care of himself or so ill that their daily activity or inmate care have been severely affected.
“At that sitting, the board will debate the reports and arrive at a decision – unanimous or majority decision –by vote,” Ramathesele said.
In a statement released on Sunday afternoon, correctional services said: “Medical parole's eligibility for Mr Zuma is impelled by a medical report received by the department of correctional services. Apart from being terminally ill and physically incapacitated, inmates suffering from an illness that severely limits their daily activity or self-care can also be considered for medical parole.”
Another former medical parole board member, Dr Angelique Coetzee, said all decisions taken should be based on medical evidence.
“The board does not look at who the patient is but on the clinical picture,” she said.
The process of obtaining medical parole was overhauled in 2012 when the Correctional Matters Amendment Act introduced the Medical Parole Advisory Board.
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