Publication: Cape Times
Issued:
Date: 2010-01-12
Reporter:
Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik does not think President Jacob Zuma has
abandoned him and his request for a pardon.
In an interview with e.tv on Sunday, Zuma was asked whether he would pardon
Shaik.
Zuma was quoted as replying: "Why should I pardon him when he has not applied? I
have nothing in front of me.
"If there was an application before me, you should ask the question. Why should
I respond if I do not have the application before me?"
This has raised eyebrows as the Presidency confirmed in October that Shaik had
applied in April 2008 for a pardon.
Shaik, who was formerly a financial adviser to Zuma, was released from prison
last year on medical parole.
He said yesterday he had not seen the report, but believed there was a plausible
explanation if Zuma had been quoted correctly.
"If that's what he said, he probably meant that he is dealing with 300
applications, and he has not personally seen mine yet," Shaik said.
Asked if he had any idea when his application would be considered, Shaik said he
did not want to comment further.
"I know you are just doing your job, but I just want to recover quietly at
home," he said.
"Please give me a break."
It is understood that Shaik's application is premised on arguments that he was
the victim of a conspiracy to stymie Zuma's political ambitions and that he had
refused to do a deal with the State to testify against his friend.
In the interview, Zuma said he had not seen Shaik since his release from prison.
In its reaction, the DA urged Zuma to explain urgently his "misleading"
statement that Shaik had not applied for a presidential pardon.
"One has to ask what the president is playing at... is
this a downright mistruth?
Has he just forgotten?" James Selfe, the DA's spokesman on correctional
services, said.
Asked to clarify the matter, presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya repeated
that there were more than 300 applications for presidential pardons awaiting
Zuma's attention, and which had yet to cross the president's desk.
Magwenya declined to comment on whether Shaik's application was among the 300,
saying he did not want to be drawn on individual applications.
He referred to the statement issued on Zuma's behalf on Sunday in which the
Presidency said the president had not yet seen the more than 300 applications
for pardons and regarded them as private and confidential.
"There is no need to create unnecessary hype. The constitution empowers the
president (to pardon people), ultimately
it's up to him *1," Magwenya said.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of
The Mercury on January 12, 2010
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With acknowledgements
to Cape Times.
*1 It's scary.