Opposition political parties will be outraged if President Jacob Zuma grants
a full pardon to his friend, fraudster Schabir Shaik.
But, as speculation mounts that this is exactly what the president will do,
opposition leaders have conceded that there is nothing they can do to stop it.
Zuma not only has the power to pardon, he also
has the power to return the R39.2 million that the state confiscated from
Shaik - and expunge his criminal record -
even though Shaik is his friend and was sent to jail for fraud and corruption
relating to Zuma.
The speculation - denied by the Presidency - is that Zuma
could make the decision before Christmas.
Zuma could try to lessen the outcry by offsetting it against an early release
for Chris Hani's killers Janus Walusz and Clive Derby Lewis and other
high-profile South African criminals.
Shaik unsuccessfully exhausted every legal avenue
*1 open to him to appeal against his conviction.
Mercy from his friend is all that remains.
Professor Managay Reddi, the Dean of the Law Faculty at University of
KwaZulu-Natal, says the president's power to extend mercy to a convicted
criminal is contained in Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
"The president has power to extend mercy regardless of any other provision in
the Criminal Procedure Act.
"The act doesn't say anything about remittance of fines, but he could say 'I'm
granting mercy and writing off any forfeiture or fines that were paid'.
"He could say that he is clearing the criminal conviction, but keeping the fines
in place. It is entirely up to him. He spells it out."
Reddi said it was not likely that Shaik would be successful in securing a
pardon, even though he lodged an application for pardon last year, before he was
granted medical parole.
"He may, however, be successful in getting the president to
extend him mercy," Reddi said.
University of Cape Town constitutional expert Professor Pierre de Vos said:
"Only when the president acts in bad faith,
if he received a bribe that could be linked to this pardon, could a court
intervene.
"He can pardon someone because he is a friend. These powers hark back to the
days of the kings of England to dispense mercy."
De Vos said Zuma could wipe Shaik's slate clean and return his riches to him in
terms of Section 84 of the constitution which states that the president is
responsible for "pardoning or reprieving offenders and remitting any fines,
penalties or forfeitures".
Although Shaik's financial circumstances are not publicly known, he lives in a
Durban mansion, reportedly worth about R6m.
If he were to get the R32.9m he forfeited *2,
he would get a monthly income of R250 000 if he put the money in the bank at an
eight percent interest rate.
The money was secured by the state after the sale
of Shaik's shares in the arms company that manufactured the computer systems for
the corvettes in the arms deal *3.
Zuma is on record as saying in respect of a pardon for Shaik: "If the law
agrees, why not? Why should I discriminate against him, because he happens to be
my comrade and friend?"
Shaik has served two years and four months of his 15-year sentence, most of it
in hospital.
He was paroled on the grounds that he was "terminally ill", although he has
since been spotted out and about in Durban.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said: "This rumour could be true. They might want to
move on the pardon before the Constitutional Court rules on the case involving
the pardon of political prisoners. This ruling could work against them."
De Lille was referring to a Constitutional Court ruling, expected within weeks,
relating to whether the victims of crime have to
be heard before the perpetrators are pardoned.
IFP Chief whip Koos van der Merwe said that if it was true that Shaik would get
a pardon, then it would mean that he had jumped the queue "while other people
waited for six years".