11 August 2010

The IFP has called on the Minister of Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to urgently consider the review of the medical parole system following the arrest of a criminal, allegedly released on parole as he was found to be a 'dying man'. 

"It is clear that there is a loophole in the medical parole system which is being abused. We need to amend the system to ensure that only those who are actually critically ill are allowed to apply for early release on medical grounds," said Koos van der Merwe MP, the IFP's spokesperson on Justice and Correctional Services. 

Medical parole for prisoners applies only to those who are pronounced terminally ill by a doctor, but on Tuesday a man who had been sentenced to 44 years in prison, serving only 18 months of his sentence, was arrested following an armed robbery. 

"We need urgent answers from the Department of Correctional Services as to how this criminal was allowed back onto the streets to reoffend after he had been declared a 'dying man'. We also need to revisit cases such as the Shabir Shaik case, as he too has apparently made a full and remarkable recovery from his 'terminal illness'. We need to review the parole process and tighten the procedures so that we don't allow prisoners and other stakeholders to abuse the system," concluded van der Merwe.