The Helen Suzman Foundation may consider taking legal action against correctional services commissioner Arthur Fraser if he fails to explain his decision – to grant former president Jacob Zuma medical parole – by 5pm tomorrow.
Director at the foundation, Francis Antonie, told Sowetan on Sunday that Fraser had to explain the decision he took as it was an administrative matter, not a legal one.
“We are waiting for tomorrow 5pm. All administrative actions are subject to review. This is an administrative action, not a court matter. One of the most definite consideration is legal action. In our view, it is an unlawful action for someone to be released on advice which has been rejected [by the Medical Parole Advisory Board].
“We are a country governed by law. Those laws apply to the rich and poor, the good and the bad. We’ve got to hold all those in power accountable otherwise we will get a variant of state capture again,” Antonie said.
The foundation wrote to Fraser last week demanding that he provide full written reasons for his decision and requesting copies of documents that informed his decision.
By Sunday the Helen Suzman Foundation had not received a reply from Fraser.
The correctional services department released Zuma on medical parole on September 5, citing more than one medical report which recommended that he serve the rest of his sentence outside prison. Zuma was serving a 15-month sentence at the Escourt correctional services centre in KwaZulu-Natal for contempt of court after refusing to appear at the Zondo Commission.
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said “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”.
Fraser told the SABC later in the week that the Medical Parole Advisory Board did not approve Zuma’s release as it considered him to be in a “stable condition”.
He told the SABC’s Vuyo Mvoko that he took the decision “given a host of reasons”.
Sowetan spoke to former chairperson of the Medical Parole Advisory Board Dr Victor Ramathesele, who said the advisory board’s decision could not be overruled by the commissioner.
Ramathesele said in his experience as the first-ever chair of the board in 2012, the minister and commissioner of correctional services ought to execute what the board recommends as the members of this structure are medical experts.
Nxumalo declined to indicate if he had responded to the foundation or if there was any other structure of government that had approached Fraser to explain his decision.
The DA has already approached the courts, challenging Zuma’s medical parole.
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