FF Plus demands that Minister Ronald Lamola must request report from Department of Correctional Services on Zuma’s medical parole

8 September 2021

The FF Plus demands that the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, must request and obtain a comprehensive report on the controversial topic of former President Jacob Zuma being granted medical parole from the Department of Correctional Services and submit it to the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services.

The Department must indicate whether the medical parole board did indeed meet after a recommendation was made by the medical parole advisory board and before the Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, granted Zuma parole on the 5th of September (earlier this month).

Medical parole may be awarded if an offender is terminally ill, suffers from one of the prescribed medical conditions or has an injury that severely restricts the individual’s daily activities.

Zuma would have had to apply for medical parole through his doctors or legal representatives, who would have had to supply specific reasons relating to his medical condition and his alleged inability to function, and then his application would have needed to be approved by the Estcourt prison chief. After that, the prison chief would have had to make a recommendation to the medical parole board.

It is important to determine whether the medical parole board granted or rejected the request and if it was rejected, it must be determined if Zuma's medical parole was simply steamrollered through by the Commissioner.

The FF Plus, therefore, demands that the Department must examine Fraser's methods seeing as he had close ties with Zuma in the past – as is apparent from the investigation into the spy tapes and the arms deal scandal as well as the fact that he served as the former Director-General of the State Security Agency (SSA).

Issued by Jaco Mulder, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Justice and Correctional Services, 8 September 2021