DA wants answers on decision to place Jacob Zuma on medical parole

DA Leader John Steenhuisen says they will call the National Commissioner of Correctional Service Arthur Fraser to answer on his department’s decision to release former President Jacob Zuma on medical parole.  

Zuma, who was serving a 15-month- jail sentence for contempt of court after ignoring a Constitutional Court to appear before the State Capture Commission, was granted medical parole because of ill-health earlier this afternoon.   

He was hospitalised shortly after his incarceration on 8 July.  

Correctional Services earlier said that the former president had undergone surgery and that more medical procedures are expected to follow.  

Steenhuisen says the decision is more political than based on medical reasoning. 

“The president (Cyril Ramaphosa) should have had the backbone to offer a presidential pardon, rather than going to the charade to like we have seen with Shabir Shaik, who is still fit and well today, but he was given medical parole many, many years ago, when it was clear that there was no real case to be made.”  

 DA unhappy with the decision to place Jacob Zuma on medical parole:

On the other hand, the ANC has welcomed the release of its former President Jacob Zuma on medical parole due to ill-health. Zuma was placed on medical parole afternoon and will be rejoined with his family soon.  

Party spokesperson Pule Mabe says although in jail it has been public knowledge that the former president was not well, and therefore, qualifies for parole. 

Meanwhile, political analyst Xolani Dube says the latest news on the former president Jacob being placed on medical parole is a distraction to bigger issues that are confronting the country.  

Zuma has been placed on medical parole.  

The Department of Correctional Services says the decision to grant Zuma medical parole was informed by a report it had received from his doctors. Zuma is serving a 15-month-jail sentence for contempt of court after ignoring a Constitutional Court to appear before the State Capture Commission.  

He was admitted to hospital soon after his incarceration on 8 July. He remains in hospital for further assessments.  

Dube says, “I think it’s a pacifying dummy that the scriptwriter now and again put in our mouths in order to defocus us from the real cause or problems in our country. The real issue in South Africa is white power. That is the main thing that we as South Africans, especially the South African natives are supposed to be discussing. The issue of Jacob Zuma is the by-product of the white power in SA and so, if we are not going to discuss the white power in SA, we are not going to really solve the problems that we have. We will keep on solving the byproduct of the white power in our country.” 

IFP, UDM react on President Jacob Zuma’s medical parole