The justice and correctional services department on Saturday would not comment on a report that Chris Hani murderer Clive Derby-Lewis was chained to his hospital bed.
"We never discuss security measures with media and in public," spokesman Manelisi Wolela said.
The Saturday Star reported that Derby-Lewis, 78, was chained to his bed at the Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria, and that his legs were also shackled together.
Derby-Lewis is undergoing chemo and radiation therapy for lung cancer.
He awaited a feedback from the department on his application for medical parole.
His application to be released on medical parole has been turned down twice by the department.
Wolela said the status of Derby-Lewis' parole application "remained the same."
Derby-Lewis was injured in two attacks from inmates at Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru Central Correctional Centre.
He and co-accused Janus Walusz are in prison for their role in the murder of SA Communist Party secretary general Chris Hani.
Hani was shot dead in the driveway of his home in Boksburg, on the East Rand, on April 10, 1993.
Derby-Lewis, who was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, has already served more than 20 years of his sentence.
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