SCA reserves judgment in Zuma medical parole case

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein has reserved judgment in the former president Jacob Zuma’s medical parol case.

Advocate Dali Mpofu told the court on Monday that the former Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser granted Zuma medical parole within the parameters of the law.

Mpofu argued that the High Court failed to establish that terminal illness was one of the criteria for granting medical parole. He said that the Correctional Services Act had empowered Fraser to protect the rights of inmates.

Meanwhile, the Helen Suzman Foundation’s senior counsel Max du Plessis said Fraser had failed to explain why he had overlooked the recommendations of the Medical Parole Advisory Board that Zuma should not be released.

The SCA justices stressed the need to understand how Fraser assessed the medical reports ahead of releasing Zuma on medical parole.

Zuma and the Department of Correctional Services presented their arguments before the SCA in Bloemfontein in a bid to overturn a High Court judgment that declared his release on medical parole unlawful.

Judgment reserved in Jacob Zuma’s medical parole case