Johannesburg - Fees Must Fall activist Kanya Cekeshe has become the second high profile inmate to be freed on parole since the announcement of a remission of sentences by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this month.
Cekeshe was released on Tuesday morning, two days after AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo's release from the East London correctional centre where he was serving his 13-year jail sentence.
Ramaphosa announced his decision to grant a special remission of sentence to certain categories of prisoners in his Reconciliation Day speech in Bergville in KwaZulu-Natal.
The list also includes parolees and those on probation.
Those jailed for sexual offences and violent crimes would not qualify for this remission.
The Department of Justice confirmed Cekeshe's release on parole from Leeuwkop prison in the "early hours" of Tuesday morning.
This was also confirmed by his close friend Nkanyiso Ngqulunga in a Twitter post on Tuesday morning.
I can confirm that Kanya Cekeshe has been released from Leadership Prison this morning, he is now at home.
— Nkanyiso Ngqulunga (@Nkanyiso_ngqulu) December 24, 2019
Cekeshe was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to setting a police vehicle alight during a fees protest in 2016 and was convicted of public violence and malicious damage to property.
He's since been involved in a battle to overturn both his conviction and sentence.