Selebi 'too ill for prison hospital'

FORMER top cop Jackie Selebi "will need specialist medical care that cannot be provided" by a prison hospital.

And, in a dramatic day on Monday, Selebi was "too ill" to make the 70km trip from his hospital bed in Pretoria to Johannesburg's notorious "Sun City" prison.

So says his lawyer, Wynanda Coetzee, who yesterday said he remained "seriously ill". She added he needed special care "that cannot be provided for by the prison hospital".

On Monday Selebi received a last-minute reprieve.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga said a warrant of committal was issued by the registrar of the High Court in Johannesburg .

Department of Correctional Services head of prisons Zacharia Modise said the warrant stipulated that Selebi should be taken to Johannesburg Prison.

However, since Selebi's lawyers said he was not in a condition to travel to Johannesburg, he was taken to Pretoria Local Correctional Centre, a facility for sick prisoners.

"Selebi's doctors are busy looking at his condition. He is getting better treatment in Pretoria. I am not saying he was not going to get correct medical care at Johannesburg Prison, but Pretoria is close to his doctor," Modise said.

He said once Selebi's condition had improved, a case-management committee would decide - based on his security classification - which prison was appropriate.

The country's former police commissioner started serving his 15-year sentence for corruption after losing his appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

He was rushed to Pretoria's Jakaranda Hospital shortly after watching the SCA ruling on television at home.

He was convicted for having a corrupt relationship with crime boss Glenn Agliotti and for receiving R150000 and an undisclosed amount of US dollars in benefits.

Sibongile Khumalo, a spokes- man for the Department of Correctional Services, said: "He is out of danger. We wish to respect his family's wishes to keep his medical condition private."