Clive Derby-Lewis, serving a life sentence for his part in the killing of SACP leader Chris Hani, will once again turn to the Pretoria High Court in an attempt to be released on parole.
His lawyer, Marius Coertze, confirmed to the Pretoria News on Tuesday that they would launch an application to have Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s refusal to allow his release on parole set aside.
The application was due to be served on Correctional Services by the end of this week, Coertze said.
He added that another application would, in the meantime, also be brought for Derby-Lewis to be released on medical parole.
This application will be served on the parole board sometime next week and it will not go to court at this stage.
Regarding the present application to the court to set aside the minister’s refusal to grant him parole, Coertze said they recently only received the reasons for the minister’s refusal. This was after the lawyer asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to step in.
“We battled to obtain these reasons, but we will now base our application on the reasons given by the minister for her refusal. We feel the reasons given by her are irrelevant to the question of parole. The reasons were basically political.”
Coertze said they had been battling since 2008 to obtain a ruling regarding parole. In October this year, Derby-Lewis, who turns 76 in January, had served 18 years of his life sentence. Coertze said in terms of Correctional Services’ credit system for prisoners (good behaviour, courses completed and time off for every year served), Derby-Lewis had nine years’ credit. “If you add this to the 18 years he had already served, it amounts to him being in jail for 27 years,” he said.
Coertze is waiting for one more medical report to be issued before he serves the application for medical parole on the department. The application to the high court will be served as soon as his client has signed the documents.
Coertze said he would visit him in jail on Thursday to sign the documents. According to the lawyer, Derby-Lewis is still struggling with ill health. “He has cancer in different parts of his body and he received radiation treatment. His skin cancer is, however, back.”
Derby-Lewis and Janus Walusz, who pulled the trigger which killed Hani in 1993, both received the death sentence. This was commuted to life imprisonment in 1996. - Pretoria News