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DA, UDM, COPE Call for Shaik Probe |
| Publication |
Cape Argus |
| Date | 2009-03-08 |
| Reporter | Sapa |
|
Web Link |
Opposition parties on Sunday called for an investigation into the release of
convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik on medical parole.
The Democratic Alliance said it would write to the Health Professions Council,
asking it to probe the "serious anomalies"
it saw in the decision.
The United Democratic Movement, in an open letter to President Kgalema Motlanthe,
asked him to launch an investigation, saying Correctional Services Minister
Ngconde Balfour's "bellicose attitude" *1
had done nothing to inspire confidence.
The Congress of the People would write to the National Director of Public
Prosecutions (NDPP) asking it to probe Shaik's
"sudden release".
They were responding to a report in the Sunday Times that head of cardiology at
Albert Luthuli hospital, Professor DP Naidoo, personally discharged Shaik in
November as he was considered well enough to leave.
However, the correctional services department never sent him back to prison.
He instead remained there until his parole this week.
Naidoo was quoted as saying that he had been told by hospital management that
Shaik's discharge from the hospital was "in the hands of hospital management and
correctional services".
According to the DA's spokesperson on correctional services James Selfe all
evidence available to the public indicated Shaik was not in the final phase of a
terminal disease.
"The onus is on the medical practitioner to judge whether an offender can be
classified as being in the final phase of a terminal condition... At present,
the evidence available to the public suggests that Mr Shaik is suffering from an
illness, but is not in the final phase of a terminal illness," he said in a
statement.
Selfe said Parliament's portfolio committee on correctional services was
informed on August 12, 2008 that Shaik was ill, but was not terminally ill.
"We believe that the HPCSA can and must conduct an inquiry that will ensure that
professional medical standards are being upheld. Notably, this inquiry will be
able to determine whether any irregularities occurred, without necessarily
publishing confidential information pertaining to Shaik's medical condition."
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, in his open letter, wrote of Balfour: "With every new
revelation his behaviour seems part of a broader conspiracy to
undermine the rule of law *2 in order to
grant Mr Shaik freedom when he should be serving time in prison.
He said Balfour was doing everything in his power
to ingratiate himself with the incoming administration to ensure his *3
re-appointment.
Holomisa proposed a three-person commission probe the matter.
It should consist of a judge and two respected medical practitioners who
specialised in Shaik's "alleged condition" to interview everyone who had been
involved in his treatment.
COPE spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in a statement the NDPP should demand a
"full explanation" from correctional services, the national council for
correctional services and the parole review board, headed by Judge Seraj Desai,
on why Shaik was released.
Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2005 on two counts of corruption and
one of fraud, which, among other things, related to an alleged bribe he
negotiated between ANC president Jacob Zuma and a French arms company.
He has been in and out of hospital at least four times since his imprisonment. -
Sapa
With acknowledgements to Sapa and Cape Argus.