SCA dismisses Zuma appeal against High Court ruling on medical parole
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein has dismissed former president Jacob Zuma’s appeal against an earlier High Court ruling which found his release on medical parole to have been unlawful.
On Monday the SCA upheld the High Court in Pretoria’s ruling, which found the decision by then Correctional Services commissioner Arthur Fraser to override the recommendations of the Medical Parole Advisory Board and release Zuma on medical parole, as unlawful and invalid.
The former president was arrested in July 2021 after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of contempt for failing to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture.
The apex court sentenced him to 15 months behind bars.
His arrest was followed by widespread violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng that claimed over 300 lives and caused billions of rands in economic losses.
After serving less than two months of his sentence, Zuma was released in September on medical parole citing a ‘serious medical condition’.
The Constitutional Court found Fraser, as the commissioner, was not entitled to grant medical parole.
“If the board’s recommendation is negative – that is the end of the matter, the commissioner cannot lawfully grant the parole. In the present case, there was no positive recommendation by the board. The commissioner’s decision was therefore unlawful and unconstitutional,” the court found.
In October, the Correctional Services Department announced that Zuma had completed his sentence.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance who challenged Zuma’s release welcomed the court outcome.
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