Johannesburg - Oscar Pistorius, once an Olympic poster boy, will only know his fate in about two weeks, when the Parole Review Board of the Department of Correctional Services reconvenes.
The Sunday Independent has been reliably informed that the board met to consider reviews of Pistorius and other offenders’ cases, but could not finish the roll, and had to postpone the sitting for two weeks, as this was the earliest possible date available for members of the board.
Members of the media camped outside the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre and the Waterkloof house of Pistorius’s uncle, Arnold, in Pretoria in the hope of getting a glimpse of the “blade runner” leaving prison or returning home on Friday morning. The board had convened at a correctional centre in Durban on Friday to reconsider, among other things, Pistorius’s placement on parole.
A source close to the department told Independent Media that the board only convenes five or six times a year to reconsider inmates’ placement on parole. Pistorius’s case is only one of the many to be considered.
Pistorius’s family also appeared to be in the dark as to when he would be released, with family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess saying late on Friday that they had yet to hear anything.
Correctional Services’ spokesman Manelisi Wolela said they would have to wait to hear from the board.
The Sunday Independent