CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - FEBRUARY 12: Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen delivers the Alternative State of The Nation Address (ASONA) on February 12, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. The DA leader delivered his speech ahead of Thursday?s State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Ramaphosa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Ziyaad Douglas)
Article by: Dumisane Dube
The Democratic Alliance (DA) announced that it will submit an application for government to make public the criteria used to grant former President Zuma medical parole.
DA Leader John Steenhuisen says the granting of medical parole to the former president does not make sense.
“I will be submitting an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for the records of the parole board to establish what criteria the Department of Correctional Services used to determine Jacob Zuma’s eligibility for medical parole. I will also request that the Justice and Correctional Services Committee summon Arthur Fraser to explain to Parliament his decision to grant this medical parole in direct contravention of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act,” said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen says the decision to place Zuma on medical parole is not based on medical reasoning, but its political.
“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,” he said.
The Department of Correctional Services confirmed that it had granted Zuma medical parole.
Zuma who is serving a 15-month jail term in KwaZulu-Natal for contempt of court, was admitted to the hospital a month ago for medical observation.
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