South Africa
'Zuma's medical parole unlawful; must return to jail'─── 10:48 Mon, 21 Nov 2022
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein has unanimously confirmed that the medical parole granted to former president Jacob Zuma by then-prison boss Arthur Fraser was unlawful. The SCA ruled he should return to jail.
In a decision written by Judge Tati Makgoka, the SCA stressed that the effect of its order that Zuma had unlawfully been granted medical parole was that "Mr Zuma, in law, has not finished serving his sentence".
"He must return to the [Estcourt] Correctional Centre to do so. Whether the time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration, is not a matter for this court to decide," the court said according to News24.
"It is a matter to be considered by the commissioner. If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release."
In a far-reaching decision, the Supreme Court of Appeal has found that then National Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser did not have the authority to overrule the Medical Parole Advisory Board when it found that Jacob Zuma did not qualify for medical parole. This has massive implications for the future processing of medical parole applications.
This is a developing story.
