Convicted former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was granted medical parole on Friday, but it was up to his doctors to decide when he would be ready to leave the hospital, an official said.
Chairman of the medical parole advisory board, Victor Ramathesele, told reporters in Pretoria that Selebi would remain at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital until a decision on his health had been made by doctors attending to him.
“He has been released on medical parole, but has not been discharged just yet. Doctors who have been looking after him have ensured that there is going to be continuation of proper medication like any other South African.
“When the doctors feel he has to leave the hospital, they will exercise that clinical judgement at that point,” he said.
Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele said the medical parole advisory board convened in Pretoria on June 20 and deliberated on the fate of 12 applications by offenders, including Selebi.
“Six offenders were recommended for medical parole. Of these, two of the offenders were respectively released on the 9th and 12
of July 2012.
“Three offenders' applications were turned down. Mr Jackie Selebi will be released today and another offender is expected to be released next week. Three offenders died whilst the documentation was being processed.”
Selebi was president of Interpol at the time of the investigation into claims that he received money from convicted drug trafficker and police informer Glenn Agliotti.
He was convicted of corruption on July 2, 2010, and handed a 15-year jail sentence.
Selebi appealed against the corruption conviction in the Supreme Court of Appeal. In December 2011 he collapsed at home in Waterkloof, Pretoria, while watching the appeal judgment on television. His appeal was denied.
This meant he had to begin his 15-year jail sentence for corruption. It was decided he would stay in Pretoria Central Prison's medical wing indefinitely.
At the time he had not instructed his medical team to apply for medical parole. Selebi had also been trained to administer his own treatment.
He suffers from diabetes and kidney disease. - Sapa