Fraud convict Schabir Shaik cut a lonely figure in the back of the police van that carried him through the gates of Durban’s Westville Prison on Thursday.
It was the start of the 15-year sentence for fraud and corruption that the former financial adviser to Jacob Zuma had tried so desperately to avoid, but his hopes were dashed by a full bench of the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday.
Shaik handed himself over to prison authorities at the Durban High Court — the same building where Judge Hilary Squires convicted him last July of having a ”generally corrupt” relationship with Zuma.
Shaik arrived at the court building in jeans and a white T-shirt, holding his wife Zuleika’s hand.
Moment’s after having his fingerprints taken he spoke to waiting reporters.
”I wish my family all of the very best, especially my wife and my son,” he said.
”To all the reporters I have given a hard time, I apologise. My heart is at peace and I am walking in the path of my Lord,” he said.
He was then whisked away in the back of the police van.
At the entrance to the prison, photographers mobbed the van in a bid to get the last picture of Shaik outside prison walls.
Above the entrance hangs a sign, which describes the prison as ”a place of new beginnings”.
Prison authorities quickly closed the gates behind the van. Two lone Shaik supporters each raised their left fist at the prison gates as the van headed up to the prison’s Medium B section.
Moments later a cavalcade of cars arrived with Shaik’s family and lawyers.
Shaik’s brother Mo refused to talk to journalists, saying he had already issued a statement.
The statement released by the family said: ”We will forever believe in Schabir’s innocence and the fact that his actions, which were deemed criminal by the courts, were out of love, loyalty and comradeship.
”The past few years, since the investigation into Schabir began, have been extremely harrowing for him and for all of us. The trauma of his trial, conviction, appeal process and imprisonment has been exacerbated by the intense media coverage, which at times borders on harassment.
”Now that Schabir has been incarcerated, we appeal to the media to allow us to grieve the tragedy that has befallen our family.”
Should Shaik not be transferred to another correctional services facility, he can expect to share a communal prison cell with between 40 and 50 other inmates, a former prisoner told the South African Press Association on Thursday.
The cells in the prison’s Medium B section -‒ for long-term prisoners — were designed for only 18 people, KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial chairperson of the South African Prisoners’ Association for Human Rights, Derrick Mdluli, said. Mdluli served time in the prison between 1987 and 1993.
The cells had only one toilet and one bathroom each.
”As you can see, if a prisoner has a runny tummy, there is a big problem.”
He said Shaik had the right to apply for a single cell. These however held an average of three people because of overcrowding.
Mdluli said Shaik’s first meal at midday on Thursday would consist of phutu, a peace of meat, some vegetables and slices of bread. There would be no supper, but he could save the bread for then.
For breakfast on Friday Shaik could expect porridge, tea, coffee or milk and two slices of bread.
How soon Shaik would be freed was not clear. Correctional Services spokesperson Luphumzo Kebeni said: ”It could be [after] a half or a third [of the sentence].”
He said Shaik’s case would first need to be reviewed by a ”case committee” and the parole board would only release him once they were satisfied that he had been fully rehabilitated.
Now that Shaik is behind bars, the focus has shifted to Zuma and whether the National Prosecuting Authority will re-indict the former deputy president and the French arms manufacturing company Thint. – Sapa