The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be filing an urgent court application in Pretoria to review and set aside the decision to release former president Jacob Zuma on medical parole.
This comes after Correctional Services Commissioner, Arthur Fraser admitted that he overruled a parole board recommendation to grant parole.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the DA believed the decision made by Fraser was unlawful for at least two reasons.
“First, it was taken against the recommendation of the medical parole advisory board not to grant medical parole to Mr Zuma.
“Second, it was taken for an ulterior purpose not permitted by section 79 of the Correctional Services Act and regulations which govern the granting of the medical parole in SA, and it was not rationally connected to the purpose of medical parole or the information before the commissioner,” Steenhuisen expressed.
He went on to say that the decision was more political than medical, claiming that it was made to solve a political issue on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“He knows the elections are seven weeks away. He knows that structures in KwaZulu-Natal were in open revolt against him,” Steenhuisen adds.
He also said that “Mr Fraser’s parole’s decision harms the court in exactly the same way Mr Zuma’s original defiance and contempt of the court did.
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