Shackled Derby-Lewis seeks freedom in his lifetime

Cancer-ridden prisoner Clive Derby-Lewis has less than a year to live and should be granted medical parole, say his lawyer and doctors.

On Tuesday, oncologist Dr Lydia Fourie sent a letter to prison authorities accusing them of scuppering Derby-Lewis's cancer treatment.

His lawyer, Marius Coertze, is scheduled to bring another court application in a bid to compel the new minister in charge of correctional services, Michael Masutha, to approve the parole board's recommendation that he be released.

Derby-Lewis has served 21 years for the planning and murder of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani, who was shot dead by Polish immigrant and rightwinger Janusz Walus in 1993.

Both men were sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished.

The 78-year-old was first given the green light for parole in 2008, but three successive ministers - Ngconde Balfour, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and S'bu Ndebele - refused to approve his release.

The matter has been a political hot potato for years. The SACP maintains that Derby-Lewis has never come clean about who else was involved in Hani's assassination.

On Monday last week, Masutha said he had received a "positive" recommendation for parole. There is no time frame within which Masutha has to make a decision.

But the SACP's Alex Mashilo has already objected.

"The minister has not taken into account our submissions and those from the Hani family. He [Derby-Lewis] is an unrepentant killer. He cannot be released when he has not told the full truth and others involved in Comrade Hani's murder are still walking free."

Hani's widow, Limpho, said in a radio interview she had not been consulted about the latest bid and that she would continue to oppose his parole.

But Coertze said that he would cite the precedents of fraudster Schabir Shaik and former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi as prisoners who were granted medical parole despite not being at "death's door".

Derby-Lewis orchestrated the murder of Hani to try to plunge South Africa into civil war.

" Here we have a man who is vrot [racked] with cancer and who a team of doctors say has less than a year to live," said Coertze. "He has gangrene in his leg. He is frail. But prison officials have him chained to his hospital bed and for years now are denying him parole while people like Shaik are healthier than me."

Derby-Lewis has been undergoing treatment at the Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria since March and is mostly shackled and chained to his bed.

Correctional Services acting area commissioner Matsemela Makgoba ordered that the leg chains be removed last week.

Apart from lung and prostate cancer and gangrene, Derby-Lewis is still healing from stab wounds and a broken arm he suffered from two attacks in prison.

According to Lawrence Ngo-veni, Masutha's spokesman, the matter is receiving attention. "The minister said he is considering this matter now. It will take a bit of time, which is why we don't want to commit to a time frame yet on when a decision will be made."

Medical parole is granted to inmates suffering from a terminal illness so that they can die at home. After the Shaik debacle, the rules surrounding medical parole were changed to prevent the abuse of the system.

Whereas in the past a single medical officer could recommend parole, the Medical Parole Review Board can now ask for a panel of medical experts to give additional input.

By October last year, 56 inmates had been granted medical parole.

Said Coertze of his client: " He is in the final stages of a terminal illness and he will die. It's as simple as that. His doctors say he will die and has, optimistically [speaking], a year to live."

Fourie's letter to prison authorities described her frustration at the department's failure to transport Derby-Lewis to and from chemotherapy sessions.

"How can a prisoner be expected to arrange his own transport while in the care of correctional services for the past 20 years? At every turn, all efforts to treat this patient have been thwarted," she wrote.

Makgoba denied that the department had refused to provide transport for Derby-Lewis.