Pretoria - The high court in Pretoria will on Friday rule whether 79-year-old Clive Derby-Lewis will be placed on medical parole to die at home or whether his application should be turned down.
Judge Selby Baqwa also has the option to review and set aside the decision by Justice and Correctional services Minister Michael Masutha to refuse him medical parole, but to refer the matter back to the minister for his reconsideration.
Derby-Lewis, who has served 21 years in jail for his part in the assassination of SACP leader Chris Hani in 1993, has terminal lung cancer, his counsel told the court. According to Advocate Roelof du Plessis two doctors diagnosed him as suffering from stage four cancer. They in December last year gave him six months to live.
Du Plessis asked the court to accept that Derby-Lewis suffered from stage four cancer and that he was at death’s door. He said all his client wanted was to die in a dignified manner at home, with his wife and family.
He said apart from being terminally ill, Derby-Lewis had also expressed his remorse for his part in the murder of Hani. He invited Hani’s widow Limpo Hani to visit him in the Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria, where he has been treated for more than a year now, so that he could apologise in person.
Limpo declined to take up the offer and Du Plessis said it is clear that she is not accepting his apology.
Limpo, who was in court on Tuesday, was from the start opposed to Derby-Lewis being freed – either on parole or medical parole.
Counsel acting for the Minister, Marumo Moerane SC, said Derby-Lewis’ apology was mere lip service.
Du Plessis meanwhile asked the court not to refer the issue of medical parole back to the minister, stating that the minister is biased.
He said “we all know why the minister is fighting this (release on medical parole) so hard” and that it will serve no purpose to refer the matter back to him.
Graham Bester, one of the advocates acting for the minister, argued that the judge had no other choice but to either refuse the application or to refer the matter back to the minister. According to him the court cannot take over the function of the minister.
Judge Baqwa questioned whether Derby-Lewis would live long enough if the matter was send back to the minister for reconsideration. Bester responded that while he is not unsympathetic towards Derby-Lewis, there is no definite time frame as to how long he has to live.
The minister did not accept that he has stage four cancer and accepted another expert opinion that he was in stage 3B-cancer. While it is accepted that he is ill, it was argued that he is not sick enough to be released at this stage.
Bester argued that if the matter was referred back to the minister, the court could put a time frame in place as to when the minister must make his decision.
Pretoria News