Not So Sick Then: Schabir Shaik, Who Has Been Given Medical Parole for a ‘Terminal’ Illness 

He was well enough to leave hospital Four Months Ago

Top cardiologist discharged Shaik in November ­ but prison authorities did not take him back to jail

Shaik didn’t seem at death’s door

The head of cardiology at Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospital discharged Schabir Shaik four months ago because he was considered well enough to leave.

But he did not return to prison. Instead, the hospital board and correctional services *1 allegedly intervened and the convicted fraudster remained in the ward until his controversial and unexpected medical parole this week.

The head of the hospital’s cardiology unit, Professor DP Naidoo, revealed this week that Shaik had officially been discharged from the hospital in November last year. Shaik’s first parole application was heard at the same time, and was adjourned to this month.

“We managed him, and I was personally responsible for discharging him months ago. But he remained at the hospital until he was paroled this week,” Naidoo said.

Naidoo, a former president of the SA Hypertension Society, who also heads cardiology at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, said a member of the hospital’s management had told him Shaik would remain there until correctional services had made a decision about where to place him. “I was told it was beyond my control. It was in the hands of hospital management and correctional services,” he said.

“They said correctional services could not move him out immediately and that they would relay to me when and where. It never was (done).”

Naidoo had nothing further to do with Shaik’s treatment and was taken by surprise at his sudden parole.

Yesterday, an “astonished” Department of Correctional Services spokesman, Manelisi Wolela, said Westville prison’s doctor, the Durban area commissioner and the KwaZulu-Natal acting commissioner were unaware of Shaik’s discharge from the hospital.

“None of our front-line people know of this. They are astonished by the allegation,” said Wolela.

He said that if evidence were produced that showed the parole procedure had been compromised, it could be the basis for a review.

Shaik, the former financial adviser to ANC president Jacob Zuma, was convicted of two counts of corruption and one of fraud in 2005.

He started serving his 15-year sentence at Westville prison in November 2006.

A “gravely ill” Shaik, who suffers from high blood pressure, was taken home in an ambulance on Monday and carried inside on a stretcher.

A blanket ban on staff at the hospital talking about Shaik was put into place just hours after the Sunday Times began its inquiries on Friday.

The Sunday Times has established that:

Despite being discharged, Shaik continued to receive “treatment” at the hospital;

• Naidoo’s deputy, Dr Sajidah Khan, who lives a stone’s throw from Shaik’s plush Morningside home *2, was central to Shaik’s medical parole application; and

• Another member of the unit who treated Shaik, Dr Les Ponnusamy, is a dedicated ANC activist whose medical studies in India in the ’80s were sponsored by the party. Ponnusamy refused to comment.

Answering the phone at Khan’s home, a man said she was unavailable. When asked who he was, he put the phone down.

Shaik’s brother, Yunus, refused to comment.

Hospital spokesman John Thusi referred the newspaper to provincial health spokesman Leon Mbangwa, who said he would need Naidoo’s statement in writing before he could investigate further.

He said a unit head’s decision on discharge was usually final.

“It’s very odd. It has never happened before. He (the doctor) should have done something about it,” said Mbangwa.

Shaik spent 83 days in St Augustine’s private hospital before being sent back to prison in February 2007. Two months later he was admitted to Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospital, but returned to prison a month later. In November that year, he returned to the hospital for 10 days after suffering a mild stroke.

In April last year, he was readmitted for severe high blood pressure and remained there until his parole this week. When he was released, he had spent 220 of his 304 prison days *3 in hospital.

A patient in the same ward as Shaik said this week he had been surprised to learn Shaik had been seriously ill.

He said Shaik, who dressed in traditional Muslim attire, often went to the hospital’s relaxation and smoking area used by staff and patients, even though he did not smoke. He also, without fail, attended evening prayers at the hospital’s prayer rooms. But he spent most of his time in his private ward.

“Quite honestly, I don’t know what he did there as his door was always closed,” the patient said.

A cleaner, who often bumped into Shaik, said he had been his “normal self” recently.

“He never missed his prayers and liked to play with his child during visiting hours,” she said.

Another staff member said Shaik had a lot of visitors, especially in the evenings.

The Human Rights Commission called for a review of Shaik’s parole this week, citing rising concern about inconsistencies in the medical parole system.

Correctional services responded to commission chairman Jody Kollapen by saying he could view Shaik’s medical file but not discuss it publicly.

Yesterday, Kollapen said that was unacceptable.

“My view is that there is a whole issue of accountability here. And the department is accountable to the whole of the republic. I expect that I’m expected to go there, come back and say I have looked at the file and I’m satisfied or dissatisfied.

“I don’t think that’s appropriate because there is a review board that must play that precise role,” Kollapen said.

He suggested that an audit of terminally ill prisoners would help to set clear guidelines on medical parole.

“That would go a long way towards ensuring the system of medical parole is consistent across the board and is not based on one’s resources or lawyers,” Kollapen said.

 ­ Additional reporting by Bongani Mthethwa and Buyekezwa Makwabe

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