CAPE TOWN ­ President Kgalema Motlanthe has been taken at his word, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) asking him to intervene in the saga of Schabir Shaik’s disputed medical parole, following Motlanthe’s assertion that he would consider taking action if asked to do so.

On Tuesday, Motlanthe told members of the JSE, during a visit to the bourse, that if asked to do so he would consider establishing an investigation into the circumstances of Shaik’s parole after a little more than two years of a 15-year sentence.

It also follows a further refusal by Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour to refer the matter to the Parole Review Board for further consideration.

Considerable confusion surrounds the medical parole granted to Shaik after it was revealed that in September last year two doctors recommended medical parole. But Durban cardiologist DP Naidoo is on record as saying that in November he said that Shaik was well enough to be discharged from hospital.

Yesterday, DA correctional services spokesman James Selfe said in a statement that the DA had written to Motlanthe requesting such a probe.

“We have also pointed out to the president that there still remains a built-in statutory mechanism which has not been invoked in this process – the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board, chaired by Judge Siraj Desai. It is quite within the president’s power to request that his correctional services minister forward the matter of Shaik’s parole to the review board, and we would urge President Motlanthe to make this his first step.

“Yesterday, Balfour reportedly said he had been ‘vindicated’ by the release of a document that showed how two Durban medical practitioners had requested that Shaik be granted medical parole,” Selfe said.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. The letter demonstrated quite conclusively that Shaik was not suffering from a terminal illness, and was certainly not in the final phase of such an illness, as is specifically required for medical parole to be granted in terms of section 79 of the Correctional Services Act.”

Selfe said that the letter Balfour claimed as vindication showed for the first time that there was “concrete evidence” that Shaik’s parole was recommended on incorrect grounds.

“If the minister believes otherwise, it beggars belief that he would still refrain from asking for the Parole Review Board to reassess the matter. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose from doing so ­ and the fact that he has not done so speaks volumes *1.

“But the president is to be commended for recognising the seriousness of the allegations being levelled at the process surrounding Shaik’s release on parole; and he is well placed to instruct the minister to have this process reviewed ,” Selfe said .

hartleyw@bdfm.co.za

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.