"Mr Selebi will be going home today [Friday]," he told a media briefing in Pretoria.

"The department has limited capacity to provide for palliative care needed by some offenders," said Ndebele.

Palliative care meant he would be kept comfortable until his death, as there was no hope of him recovering.

An 11-member medical parole advisory board met on June 20 and recommended the release of six offenders, including Selebi, who needed dialysis for kidney failure.

Three of them had since died, said Ndebele.

Selebi was the president of Interpol at the time of the investigation into claims that he received money from convicted drug trafficker and police informer Glenn Agliotti.

He was convicted of corruption on July 2, 2010, and handed a 15-year jail sentence.

Selebi appealed against the corruption conviction in the Supreme Court of Appeal. His appeal was denied.

In December 2011, he collapsed at home in Waterkloof, Pretoria, while watching the judgment on television.

The appeal outcome meant he had to begin his 15-year jail sentence for corruption. It was decided he would stay in Pretoria Central prison's medical wing indefinitely.

At the time he had not instructed his medical team to apply for medical parole. Selebi had also been trained to administer his own treatment. He suffered from diabetes and kidney disease.