A letter calling for a review of the decision to release fraud convict Schabir Shaik would be sent to Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Monday.
The commission would further ask the minister to conduct an audit of South African prisons, identify all terminally ill prisoners and give them the opportunity to apply for medical parole, chairperson Jody Kollapen told the South African Press Association.
Shaik, former financial adviser to the African National Congress (ANC) presidential candidate Jacob Zuma, was released from the Durban Westville prison last Tuesday after serving 28 months of a 15-year jail term.
Kollapen said ”inconsistencies” had emerged in the manner in which the Correctional Services Act was being applied.
The review board, he said, may provide clarity in terms of how it should be applied in practice.
”In Mr Shaik’s case, information in the public domain saying that he was discharged … this warrants a referral for review,” he said.
‘Misquoted’
The report quoted head of the cardiology unit at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, Professor DP Naidoo, saying Shaik was discharged four months ago but remained in the ward until he was paroled last week.
But late on Monday the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that the KwaZulu-Natal health department said Naidoo had been misquoted.
”DP Naidoo had been saying he was discharging Schabir Shaik but to the Department of Correctional Services. Not to say he was fit and well. He wasn’t getting any better [under care].
”He was then discharged because everything that could be done had been done,” said KwaZulu-Natal health department chief operations officer Nhlanhla Nkosi.
On Sunday, the Sunday Times reported that Naidoo had discharged Shaik from Chief Albert Luthuli hospital in November.
Medical parole under the microscope ‘
”Also, the way the Act is applied seems to be inconsistent … people having to go to court to get released on medical parole or some just dying in prison, this needs to be addressed,” Kollapen said.
”A review, we feel will provide some clarity and also lay down guidelines in how medical parole is applied in practice.”
The Shaik case has placed medical parole under the microscope.
On Sunday, the City Press reported that a total of 1 056 prisoners died of ill health in 2008, 117 of which were from Durban Westville prison.
Quoting the Durban Justice for Prisoners and Detainees Trust, the report said many gravely ill prisoners were kept in prison because they did not have recommendations from doctors, resulting in their cases failing to reach the parole board.
It said many families were now approaching the organisation to assist them with getting their imprisoned family members released on medical grounds.
Correctional services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela on Monday could not confirm whether the department had received the letter from the human rights watchdog.
He said the department had not received a formal submission on the matter before but he was sure the minister would ”consider it [the SAHRC submission] and respond to it”.
Following a media outcry on Shaik’s release last Tuesday, the minister requested Shaik’s report and on studying it, found that procedure had been followed correctly, Wolela said.
On Monday, the Health Professions Council of South Africa said it would investigate three doctors who allegedly approved Shaik’s release on medical parole.
This followed a complaint the body received from the Democratic Alliance calling for a probe into whether the doctors had acted in compliance with the rules for medical parole.
According to the department, in the first quarter of the current financial year it received 34 000 applications for all categories of parole and granted 16 900 of these applications. — Sapa