Durban - Questions have been raised yet again about convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik’s medical condition after it emerged on Monday that he had made a request for his medical parole to be converted to ordinary parole.
Shaik was convicted of fraud and corruption in 2005, and the following year he was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
He served only two years and four months in prison before being released on medical parole in 2009.
In an interview with The Mercury in 2013, Shaik said he suffered from “uncontrollable hypertension” and had to be on medication for life.
Shaik has also courted controversy since his release and has been involved in at least two altercations on the Papwa Sewgolum golf course in Reservoir Hills where he plays golf.
In the first incident, in 2011, a woman Sunday Tribune journalist was allegedly throttled and slapped by Shaik, but the prosecutor declined to prosecute.
In the second incident, in 2013, a caddie alleged that he was assaulted by Shaik, but did not lay a criminal charge.
Correctional Services Department spokesman Manelisi Wolela failed to respond to questions on Monday although he told the radio station SAfm that correspondence had been received from Shaik’s lawyers, but he would not be drawn on the content of it.
He also said that prisoners who were granted medical parole generally remained on it for the duration of their sentences.
University of KwaZulu-Natal criminology lecturer Hema Hargovan said it appeared that Shaik was trying to take advantage of an “omission or lacuna” in the law.
She said the Correctional Services Act did not provide for the cancellation of medical parole or for a prisoner to be sent back to prison on account of improved health.
“The question is whether Schabir Shaik is suggesting that his health is so improved that he is no longer terminally ill or incapacitated. It also casts serious doubt on the authenticity of his original application.”
The DA’s James Selfe agreed and said the application appeared to be an admission that Shaik was not terminally ill.
“Shaik was granted medical parole in 2009 because he purported that he was terminally ill. Six years on, and Shaik shows no signs of deteriorating health but has been reported to have led quite a robust life since.”
He said if the application was granted, the DA would look into taking the matter on review in court.
Lukas Muntingh, the project co-ordinator of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative at the University of the Western Cape, said the issue raised “difficult legal questions” as convicted offenders were required to serve half of their sentences before they were considered for parole.
“In Shaik’s case, he was to serve seven and a half years and he did not. Also, the wording of the act is very ambiguous, so, in theory, this (application) could happen.”
Shaik did not respond to questions sent via SMS but reportedly told SAfm that he was surprised the matter was in the “public domain”.
He also said he was managing his health and declined to comment further.
The Mercury