Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour has not covered himself in glory in recent weeks. Foremost in his litany of lapses must be his indelicate eggdance around the release of fraudster Schabir Shaik on medical parole.

The spectacular fallout that has occured around this incident has been fuelled in large part by Balfour's apparent inability to play it straight. He first hid behind claims to be protecting medical confidentiality while the furore grew, ignoring the public's obvious right to see whether justice is being served. And when conflicting details about the reccomendations of Shaik's attending doctors emerged, he declared himself vindicated by one set of information over the other - instead of ordering the parole review board to probe the matter.

Unlike Balfour and his department, the Health Professions Council of SA and the SA Medical Association have both deemed the matter of sufficient public interest - and of sufficient medical concern - to launch their own investigations into the case.


Yesterday the minister lost his court bid to block the release of a report by the Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Nathan Erasmus, on the death of an HIV-positive prisoner in 2006. He was appealing against a January ruling by the Pretoria High Court that gave the TAC access to the document.

In the January ruling, Judge Brian Southwood found that Balfour had "relied on technical points which have no merit" and had not complied with his constitutional obligations. He also found that the minister's claim that he had never received the report was "far-fetched and untenable *1". The minister was ordered to pay punitive costs.

So far Balfour does not look good in either case. Perhaps he could redeem his dented image by moving swiftly to ensure that the circumstances of Shaik's medical parole are fully explored.

With acknowledgements to Cape Argus.