The Presidency on Sunday denied considering any applications for
presidential pardons amid an outcry from political parties and the media.
"The ongoing media speculation and reports that President Jacob Zuma has
considered or is about to grant pardon to anyone are incorrect and misleading,"
the Presidency said in a statement.
This response comes in the light of various reports that Zuma is considering
pardoning Shabir Shaik and Eugene de Kock.
Shaik served two years and four months of a 15-year-sentence for corruption
until his release in March 2009 on medical parole, which is only granted to
terminally ill patients.
He was subsequently photographed by a Rapport photographer driving his car and
shopping in Durban in December. Media reports at the time said that Shaik had
applied for presidential pardon.
Rapport and City Press newspapers reported on Sunday that De Kock might be
granted a presidential pardon in exchange for information about further
apartheid-era crimes. He was sentenced to 212 years plus two life terms in
prison for masterminding the assassinations of suspected anti-apartheid
activists.
He has been in prison for 13 years.
The two newspapers reported that De Kock's release might divert attention from a
possible pardon of Shaik and might be construed as gesture of reconciliation
toward Afrikaners.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) also reacted strongly against the reports by
questioning how any such pardoning could serve the interests of the South
African public. "Any attempt to disguise shoddy political bartering as national
"reconciliation" ought to be rejected with contempt," said DA correctional
services spokesperson James Selfe in a statement.
"The law should never be reduced to a game of 'your criminal in exchange for
mine'," Selfe said.
"And in Schabir Shaik's case, there is absolutely nothing that would disguise
his possible pardon as anything other than a back-scratching exercise," he said.
The DA called for the government's adherence to factors that should be
considered with a presidential pardon. These include the nature of the offence,
the circumstances surrounding both the offender and the offence, the time lapsed
since the conviction, the interest of the State and community, and the
blameworthiness attached to the offence, the party said.
The Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) called for the consultation of
victims' families in presidential pardoning processes.
"It would be extremely inconsiderate of the president to set free De Kock after
he was found guilty of heinous killing of people who sacrificed their lives for
our liberation," the party said in a statement.
Azapo also criticised the possible release of Shaik as a condoning of corruption
and proof that an improper relationship existed between Shaik and Zuma.
The party questioned how the applications of "two convicts" could be considered
above that of Azapo former secretary-general George Wauchope, who lives in exile
in Botswana. Wauchope's application for pardon was denied in the past on "flimsy
excuses", the party said.
He had been charged by the apartheid government when already in exile, said
Azapo.
Refusing to go into details, the Presidency said it would "not enter into
discussions of individual applications as their confidentiality must be
respected". - Sapa