Jacob Zuma's former financial adviser, jailed businessman Schabir Shaik,
could be home within months.
Shaik, convicted on two counts of corruption and one of fraud, based on evidence
of a corrupt relationship between himself and Zuma, was sentenced to 15 years in
jail in 2005.
In the two years and three months that he has been in jail, he has spent most of
the time in either private or prison hospitals due to high blood pressure,
depression and chest pains,
which have been claimed to be life
threatening.
It appears that a section in the Criminal Procedure Act, which formed part of a
ruling in the landmark 2007 Supreme Court of Appeal case of David Ashley Price
versus the Minister of Correctional Services, could assist in Shaik's release.
In the judgment, the court ruled that section 276A of the Criminal Procedure Act
allowed for the conversion of imprisonment into correctional supervision in a
case where a person had been sentenced to imprisonment for a period exceeding
five years but the date of release was not more than five years in the future,
and if the commissioner or a parole board was of the opinion that the person was
fit to be subjected to correctional supervision.
The act allows for an application to the clerk or registrar of the court for the
prisoner to appear before a court to reconsider the sentence.
In Shaik's case, his earliest date of release would be seven-and-a-half years.
He has already served *1
two years and three months of the 15-year sentence, and in three months he would
have served two-and-a-half years, meaning his earliest date of release would be
less than five years "in the future".
If Shaik makes the application, the clerk or the registrar of the court must
consult with the prosecutor and set the matter down for a specific date on the
roll of the court concerned.
After hearing the matter, the court may convert a sentence into correctional
supervision on conditions which it deemed fit.
Schabir Shaik's brother Mo said his family were aware of the possibilities that
the judgment presented and that their legal team were closely studying the
judgment.
Mo said his brother Schabir was extremely ill and that the family would continue
to look at all possible avenues to get him released.
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Bheki Manzini yesterday said
the department would need to read through the judgments because it would be
difficult to comment as their interpretation of the Price judgment might differ. With acknowledgements to
Carvin Goldstone and The Star.
*1Beg to differ.
Malingering in the sanatorium is not serving.
At the very least, all the time spent in the private hospitals is exactly equal
to correctional supervision.
Do the arithmetic and then consider what the law allows.
But having Shaik inside is not a good platform for Zuma, either for his own
prosecution or his party politicking.
So there will be all kinds of efforts from that angle to get Shaik out of jail
very soon now.
It would be ironic justice for Shaik to "serve" 2½ years in the slammer and for
Zuma to spend 12½.
My arithmatric says 2½ +12½ = 15.
And 15 is good enough for me, even split between two co-conspirators.
Alain Thetard, Jean-Paul Perrier, Yann de Jomaron and Pierre Moynot should split
another 100 years, while Thomson-CSF and its successors in title should each get
another 100.
Then my work is done and I can do something useful for the last 15 years of my
working life.