Institute of Race Relations to seek advice on Zuma parole judgment

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is seeking legal advice after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling on former president Jacob Zuma's unlawful release on medical parole.

The SCA ruled on Monday that Zuma has not finished serving his sentence imposed by the Constitutional Court for contempt of court and must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre.

However, the SCA said whether the time spent by Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration was not a matter for the court to decide and it is up to correctional services commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale.

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“As such, the SCA has found the commissioner of the department of correctional services acted unlawfully by releasing Zuma, yet has determined that the same office must now decide whether to remedy that unlawful conduct by releasing Zuma a second time. This is not easy to understand,” said the IRR, which was a friend of the court in the case.

If there was any doubt that the department, having unlawfully released Zuma, would let him off the hook no matter what, that doubt was put to rest when the department released a media statement to the effect that Zuma had completed his sentence.

In its judgment the SCA said the statement by the department was a “premature” decision and “not ... validly made”.

“The SCA seems to have said the DCS broke the law by letting Zuma out but is allowing the DCS to fix this by letting him out again. I am not a lawyer, so I am looking for someone to tell me how that makes sense,” IRR head of  campaigns Gabriel Crouse said.

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