He was not so much the comrade, but the charou behind the comrade — so there was no Tony Yengeni-esque farewell for businessperson Schabir Shaik as he was driven from the Durban High Court to begin his 15-year jail sentence for corruption at Westville Correctional Facility.
No Jacob Zuma, no ANC provincial bigwigs, no toyi-toying crowd. Only a clutch of journalists and a dozen court employees were there to wave goodbye to the solitary, dejected figure behind the bars of the police van.
Arriving at court at 8.27am in a black BMW 745i, far larger than any prison cell he might hope to inhabit, Shaik handed himself over to the law. He was accompanied by his wife, Zuleika; brothers Chippy, Mo and Yunis and lawyer Reeves Parsee.
Dressed in a plain white T-shirt, jeans and white Jack Purcell slip-ons — for years a favourite of Durban’s streetwise hoods and wannabe hoods — a clearly stunned Shaik briefly addressed the media before slipping an arm over Zuleika’s shoulders and entering the court’s holding cell to complete the documentation necessary for his incarceration: ”This has been a trying time for my family and I wish them all the best,” he said. ”My heart is now at peace and I will follow my Lord’s path,” said Shaik, after apologising to journalists whom he had ”given a hard time”. A half hour later, papers signed, the roll-up garage door of the holding cell was raised and a police van with Shaik inside sped off to Westville prison.
His brother Mo said a team of senior lawyers is still scouring the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement, hoping to find a basis to appeal to the Constitutional Court. ”One of the reasons why we have not gone for the bail application in the 48 hours that we were given is that we have to study the judgement properly. ”The fact that Schabir is serving his time in prison does not mean that there is no basis for an appeal,” said Mo, who expressed disappointment in the judiciary’s interpretation of the law, which considers what he calls ”payments made out of altruism” as corrupt practices.
Mo said former freedom fighters continue to find themselves in a ”clash of paradigms”, born out of the assumption that comrades who had been giving financial support to comrades in exile would automatically stop doing so on April 27 1994. Mo confirmed that Zuma had spoken to Shaik before his incarceration. ”Zuma and Schabir have spoken and I believe words of advice and courage were exchanged between them. They remain very close friends. We, as a family, also believe to this day that Schabir’s relationship with Zuma is purely friendship,” added Mo.
The family, usually extremely publicity friendly, had earlier this week instituted a ”media shut down”, stonewalling the press.
There are unconfirmed rumours that Shaik will be transferred to the Empangeni Correctional Facility on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. If he remains at Westville, he may not feel too out of place: according to the Jali Commission of Inquiry report, prison officials and members at the prison try ”to make a ‘fast buck’ wherever they can and the complaints before the commission indicate that corruption is endemic”.
The report notes that the level of corruption at Medium C prison is so high that one inmate referred to it as ”a casino”. The Medium B prison, where Shaik is likely to be incarcerated, is 197,9% full, so he will, in all probability be sharing his cell with others: more goldfish bowl than Koi pond.
How long is 15 years in prison?
Schabir Shaik should serve at least 12 years of his 15-year-sentence if his jailers follow the letter of the law. But there are already doubts, based on ”practical knowledge” of the system, that he will serve more than a third of his sentence.
According to Section 52 (2) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, an offender jailed for fraud of between R100 000 and R500 000 ”shall not be placed on parole unless he has served at least four fifths of the terms of imprisonment imposed: Provided that the court when imposing such imprisonment may order that the prisoner be considered for placement on parole after he has served two thirds of the term of imprisonment”.
This means Shaik will have to serve at least 12 years before being placed on parole.
The Parole and Correctional Supervision Amendment Act, which came into effect on October 1 2004, did away with provisions allowing for prisoners to be released after serving a third of their sentence. Prisoners convicted before that date, even if they started their sentences later, as did Tony Yengeni, qualified for release after serving only a third of their time, but those sentenced thereafter, like Shaik, do not.
Correctional service watchers remain unconvinced.
Golden Miles Bhudu said: ”Shaik will never ever serve even a quarter, even half or even two-thirds.”
A Johannesburg criminal law advocate, Steve Dlwathi, said practicalities of running a jail often meant that the law was applied differently, causing prisoners to be released earlier than the courts had intended. ”I don’t see Shaik staying in jail for 10 years. From the practical knowledge of what goes on he would be out after serving a third. I will not be surprised if we watch the 2010 World Cup with Schabir at the stadium with us,” said Dlwathi. — Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya