The Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons had by Monday afternoon not received any complaints of preferential treatment for convicted businessman Schabir Shaik, its head, Judge Nathan Erasmus, said.
”I have not received any official complaints. I cannot be led by speculation by the media,” he said on Monday afternoon.
Erasmus said that if anyone is unhappy with the way Shaik is being treated, they have the right to lodge a complaint with the inspectorate.
However, to date this has not been done.
Shaik was convicted in July 2005 on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud by Justice Hilary Squires in the Durban High Court.
The Supreme Court of Appeal last year upheld Squires’s judgement and Shaik reported to Durban’s Westville Prison on November 9. He was transferred to Empangeni’s Qalakabusha Prison on the same day and on November 24 he was admitted to St Augustine’s Hospital’s renal transplant unit in Durban.
Speculation has been rife that Shaik has received preferential treatment, and over the weekend KwaZulu-Natal media reported that he had clocked up a medical bill of close to R500 000. Another report said that Erasmus was launching a special probe into Shaik’s stay at St Augustine’s.
On Monday Erasmus denied that any probe was under way. He said Shaik is continuously monitored, ever since he arrived at the hospital and that he expects to receive the latest medical reports on Shaik on Tuesday.
Shaik apparently suffers from unstable blood pressure and hypertension. His family have said that he suffered a mild stroke shortly after he was admitted to St Augustine’s.
Erasmus said he ”made it very clear” at a November press briefing that Shaik’s condition will be monitored. Shaik had initially been transferred to the prison in Empangeni because there is better capacity to observe the former financial adviser and confidant of former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
Golden Miles Bhudu, the president of the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights, said his organisation had not filed an official complaint over Shaik’s treatment, but will do so soon.
”But we do not expect a response. We say publicly that he has overstayed his welcome at St Augustine’s,” he said. — Sapa