Parole expert Julian Knight says the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has made clear the conditions under which a prisoner should be released on medical parole.
On Monday, the SCA upheld a High Court order which declared former President Jacob Zuma’s release on medical parole irrational, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The SCA also ruled that Zuma must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre because he did not lawfully complete his sentence.
Knight says, “The reasons granted for the decision must match what has been put before the Commissioner. So, those are the basic legal frameworks within which the Commissioner must make a decision for it to be a decision that can stand review in the future…”
“The Supreme Court of Appeal has clarified an important distinction that ought to be made by Jacob Zuma and the Commissioner today that for prisoners that are serving less than 24 months, the Commissioner could just make a decision on medical parole without satisfying himself whether actually there was terminal illness,” added Knight.
The Constitutional Court had handed Zuma a 15-month prison sentence in June last year after he defied its order to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
The sentence expired on the seventh of last month.
Former President Zuma’s medical parole appeal dismissed with costs:
