Presidency "comfortable" that Zuma’s medical parole was granted through relevant authorities
Updated | By Anastasi Mokgobu
Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele has refused to comment on whether President Cyril Ramaphosa knew beforehand about the granting of medical parole to former president Jacob Zuma.
The controversial medical parole decision has been in the spotlight since the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, admitted on SABC that he had rescinded the decision by the Medical Parole Advisory Board that found Zuma to have been in a stable condition.
Frasier said he then took the decision to grant medical parole to Zuma.
On Sunday, the City Press reported that Ramaphosa allegedly gave Fraser the green light to authorize Zuma’s release from prison on controversial grounds.
The 79-year old Zuma was moved to a hospital outside of the Estcourt Correctional Facility in August, some three weeks after he was admitted to the prison to serve 15 months for contempt of court.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Cabinet Lekgotla on Tuesday morning, Gungubele said the president is comfortable that the decision was taken by the relevant institution which has the necessary power to do so.
“The issue of the former president, what counts to us is that somebody who had the power to exercise that authority is Mr Fraser, head of Correctional Services and what counts to us is that the powers to deal with that are vested in him.
If there are any wrongdoings about that, we expect the normal institutions to deal with that but what counts for us is that the person in whom the powers are vested to deal with, dealt with it,” added Gungubele.
Gungubele didn’t want to comment any further about Ramaphosa seemingly being informed about the decision beforehand.
“That’s an area where I am not prepared to give a response.
“I think the President is better placed but we are comfortable that a relevant institution vested to take that decision is the one that took it.”
Meanwhile, Lobby group AfriForum and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are seeking answers on the process followed by Fraser and whether he did seek additional medical expert advice from independent doctors before overturning the decision by the Board.
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