Publication: Business Day Issued: Date: 2009-03-05 Reporter: Kenichi Serino Reporter: Sapa

Show Compassion for Shaik, Top MP Urges Amid Storm

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date 2009-03-05
Reporter Kenichi Serino, Sapa

Web Link

www.businessday.co.za



The public should show compassion *1 for paroled fraudster Schabir Shaik, a senior MP said yesterday.

“People should be sympathetic enough to allow him to get treatment *2," chairman of Parliament’s security and constitutional affairs committee, Kgoshi Mokoena, said.

Mokoena said he was comfortable *3 with the decision of the parole board to place Shaik on parole on medical grounds.

“ The parole board is an independent body and there are no grounds to question the integrity of the doctors *4 who recommended parole on medical grounds. I differ sharply with those who are calling for the medical records to be made public.

“If there has been connivance on the part of the department of correctional services, it will come out. Parliament and the department must also ensure that Shaik does not violate his parole conditions," he said.

He “urged the public to show compassion for Shaik", who was released from prison on Tuesday and returned to his family in an ambulance after serving just over two years of a 15-year prison term.

A former financial adviser to African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma, Shaik was sentenced to jail in 2005 on two counts of corruption and one of fraud, which, among other things, related to an alleged bribe he negotiated between Zuma and a French arms company.

Shaik spent most of his time served in prison in hospital, reportedly under treatment for high blood pressure, depression and chest pains.

Yesterday prison authorities said the move to place Shaik on parole would not be reviewed. “The minister has looked at the report, applied his mind, and decided the matter is correct," correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said. “I understand the public opinion is mounting but on the basis of the report, the minister has already applied his mind.

“There is no legal basis for sending it for review *5," Wolela said.

The ANC also entered the fray, saying neither the party nor its leader had any prior knowledge of the parole board’s decision to release Shaik.

“Neither (Zuma) nor the organisation knew of the pending release of Schabir Shaik," party spokesman Brian Sokutu said.

“This matter has been handled by the correctional services department so it’s very much a matter for correctional services."

Some opposition parties accused Shaik of using his political connections to get an early release from prison.

Shaik’s family rejected accusations that he was not ill.

“Political parties must submit their medical qualifications to me, then I’ll respond," said his brother, Mo Shaik.

Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Tuesday Shaik had satisfied the law’s requirement that a medical parolee had to be in a “terminal condition" *6.

“I am of the view that the decision they made is correct," Balfour said.

Yesterday, South African Human Rights Commission chairman Jody Kollapen said Shaik’s parole should be further reviewed.

“ I know the minister has indicated that he is satisfied the decision was the correct one but given the public interest in this matter, perhaps there should be a referral to the review board," Kollapen told SABC radio news.

“Perhaps what may be appropriate is for the minister, or indeed the commissioner, to refer this to a review board.

“There is lots of concern out there by prisoners that the policy is not being applied consistently," Kollapen said.

With acknowledgements to Kenichi Serino, Sapa and Business Day.


*1      People show compassion for the ill, not those malingering.


*2      Two things, firstly he could get all the treatment he needed while incarceration.

Secondly, the terminally ill only get treat to control pain.

Or am I wrong, Judge Edwin Cameron is terminally ill with AIDS and has been getting treatment for the last ten years and will be getting treatment for the next ten to twenty years.

Then he will die, just like the rest of us.

[I haven't read his book and so don't know the exact times.]


*3      Sure he is comfortable - because that's what the bossmen ordered.


*4      There sure are grounds to question the integrity of the doctors.

But at the same time if doctors hold that their integrity is true, then firstly neither they nor their patient should have any problem submitting all the relevant records to public and expert scrutiny.

Secondly there should be no problem with examination of the prisoner or parolee by three independent medical experts.

Thirdly that the matter be reviewed by legal and medical experts.


*5      It is easy to read between the lines here.

It hinges on the word "legal".

Clearly this has been very carefully thought through and the legal technicality of the precise definition of "terminal" illness is being exploited.

There are solid grounds for sending it for review.

One of them is public interest.

The second one is why a convicted fraudster would baulk at fraud to get out of prison early.

The third one is why a convicted briber and corrupter would baulk at bribery and corruption to get out of prison early.

The fourth one is why a perennial liar would baulk at lying to get out of prison early.


*6      Here is the problem.

High blood pressure can be controlled, but not cured.

Therefore it is a terminal condition.

But seldom does it lead to death.

It just accompanies death.

I am willing to bet that Schabir Shaik will live very comfortably, both health-wise and financially, for at least another 15 years and possibly even another 20 to 25 years.

But, what is stopping the NPA from charging him with all the extra counts of bribery and corruption and racketeering for which he was not charged, but Zuma and The Two Thints were charged.

Okay, based on the present circumstances, he might get immediate parole if convicted, but at least he would have to give evidence in court along with his co-conspirators Zuma and Pierre Moynot.

It'll be a scream.