/ 2 April 2019

Ferdi Barnard released on parole

Barnard was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998
Former apartheid hitman Ferdinand Barnard was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998, a decade after killing activist David Webster outside his Troyeville home in 1989. (Gallo)

According a Citizen report, former apartheid-era civil co-operation bureau (CCB) agent Ferdinand Barnard was released from prison on Tuesday morning. Barnard was serving time for the 1989 murder of anti-apartheid activist and anthropologist, David Webster.

Barnard was granted parole on March 7 by Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha, who had announced Barnard would be released on April 2.

Barnard was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998, a decade after killing Webster outside his Troyeville home in 1989. Barnard would later be convicted for the attempted murder of another activist, Dullah Omar, who served in both former president Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki’s Cabinets.

Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said that Barnard’s release date was set for Tuesday, April 2, but did not confirm whether the former CCB agent had been released.

Masutha said that Barnard had met all the requirements for his release on parole, but it does not mean that it is the end of his life sentence.

The community corrections office will supervise and monitor him as he serves the remainder of his sentence in the community for the rest of his natural life.