There was no sign of businessman Schabir Shaik at Durban’s Westville Prison by 6.30am on Thursday morning, where he was expected to report for a 15-year jail sentence.
Clad in their distinctive brown Correctional Services Department uniforms, prison staff looked on curiously at television, radio and other media crews gathered outside the main gate.
The media arrived before dawn, on the lookout for the black BMW in which Shaik was expected to arrive. It was their second day spent waiting outside the prison.
They watched as staff arrived in minibus taxis and filed through the main gate, past the guardhouse with its armoured glass. A sign at the entrance describes the prison as ”a place of new beginnings”.
Outside, night-shift staff waited under Durban’s blue skies for the taxis which would take them home — as the temperature started rising.
On Tuesday, the Shaik family declared what was described as a ”media shutdown”, refusing to reveal whether Schabir intended taking his case to the Constitutional Court.
Shaik’s appeal against his corruption and fraud convictions was denied by a full bench of the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday.
His sentence was also upheld.
The Justice Department served Shaik with a surrender order on Tuesday morning, instructing him to hand himself over to prison authorities within 48 hours.
Correctional Services spokeserson Luphumzo Kebeni said Shaik’s status in prison would be determined by a ”a computerised point-scoring system”.
Attempts to reach Shaik by cellphone early on Thursday only met with the message: ”The subscriber you have dialled is not available at present. Please try again later.”
The SCA’s ruling is likely to increase the possibility that former deputy president Jacob Zuma could face new charges after an earlier graft case against him was dismissed. Such a step by prosecutors could hobble his presidential hopes.
”We find a wealth of evidence to show that the friendship [between Shaik and Zuma], which we accept exists, was persistently and aggressively exploited by Mr Shaik for his own and his group’s advantage,” said the court’s ruling, read out by Judge President Craig Howie.
Zuma, a widely popular politician with broad grassroots support, has denied wrongdoing and said he is the victim of a political conspiracy.
Prosecutors charged Zuma himself with corruption, but that case was tossed out of court in September in what was seen as a humiliating setback for the state.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said new charges could be laid against Zuma. ”One of the reasons the state was not ready to proceed [in September] was this very matter that was finalised today,” he said. – Sapa