The public deserves transparency regarding the decision to release former president Jacob Zuma from jail on medical parole.
The correctional services department announced on Sunday that Zuma had been granted the parole for sick inmates. The department said in a statement the former president would finish his jail term in the "system of community corrections".
Zuma began serving his 15-month sentence in early July after he was found guilty of contempt of court for not complying with a Constitutional Court ruling for him to appear before the state capture commission of inquiry.
The department must explain further the procedure it followed – informing us that the decision was based on reports it received is not enough. South Africans have every right to question the process in the Zuma case as there are prisoners who apply for medical parole and it gets denied.
In his case he did not even apply. Instead, reports recommending he be released were submitted by doctors.
"An inmate does not need to apply for any form of parole. The normal parole gets activated by case management committee. But if someone is ill, either the treating doctor or even a head of centre or nurse can put in a recommendation.
"In this case, there was a case brought by the doctors that were treating him, that he be considered for medical parole," spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told this publication.
“It is not just one report which said he needed to be considered for medical parole. The various treating doctors gave us reports."
We are not arguing that Zuma should or should not have been released, we are only calling for transparency regarding the recommendation that he should be released. If social media were to be used to measure the reaction, his release was welcomed and questioned by sceptical South Africans who wanted to know whether proper procedure was followed.
We have been here before. Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was released from prison in 2009 because we were told he was terminally ill and clinically depressed, and would die from serious high blood pressure. Well, he is still alive and a free man.
Granted, the basis is different this time but how long did it take the parole board to reach this decision? Usually, the government is slow with processing anything but the Zuma medical parole was done very quickly.
When he was admitted to hospital the department said it was for a routine check-up. We moved from there to he was undergoing surgery and now we are on released on medical parole.
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