Pretoria - Clive Derby-Lewis, the convicted murderer of SACP stalwart Chris Hani, is not being kept at a correctional facility or at one of its hospitals, but in a five-star private hospital in Pretoria.
The Sunday Independent can reveal that Derby-Lewis, who has recently been denied medical parole by Justice Minister Michael Masutha, has been at Eugene Marais Private Hospital under the guard of armed correctional officers for 14 months, but not at the expense of the taxpayer.
Derby-Lewis is apparently undergoing chemo and radiation therapy for lung cancer, but his family is understood to be footing both the hospital bill and the cost of having the guards by his bedside.
According to two doctors who are in private practice, Derby-Lewis could be charged anything between R1 600 and R2 000 a day by the hospital, excluding specialised treatment.
This also does not include the security fees charged by Correctional Services for the guards at his bedside.
According to Correctional Services policy, an inmate may be granted permission to be treated by his or her private medical practitioner or dentist at his or her own cost and risk.
Considering the time Derby-Lewis has spent at the private hospital, it is apparent his legal team wants to keep him there until he is granted medical parole.
A Sunday Independent team recently visited the hospital and saw him chatting to visitors in the ward while the armed guards looked on.
Derby-Lewis is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the April 1993 assassination of Hani, and has repeatedly been denied parole.
Masutha said the medical parole board has recommended that Derby-Lewis be released from a prison cell as he was suffering from stage three B cancer of the lungs.
“This finding and recommendation (departs from) the act, read with relevant regulations (that) an inmate with malignant cancer stage four with metastasis, being inoperable or with both radiotherapy and chemotherapy failure that qualifies.”
Correctional Services acting national commissioner Zach Modise confirmed that Derby-Lewis was in a private hospital.
“Yes, he has been there for a considerable time and we do not know how long he is still going to be there. His family is responsible for the hospital bill and for having the guards there,” he said.
Derby-Lewis was denied medical parole in 2011, 2013 and again earlier this year. He was injured in two attacks by inmates at Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II Central Correctional Centre last year.
Hani’s widow Limpho could not be reached for comment. It is more than two decades since her husband’s assassination, and she has not forgiven Derby-Lewis.
The SACP has previously reacted with “serious concern” to media reports that Derby-Lewis could be released on medical parole.
SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said: “We were not aware of the fact that Derby-Lewis (has been) in a private hospital for more than a year. That’s almost like somebody who is technically released from prison.
“As far as we are concerned, Derby-Lewis is a convicted murderer who should be in prison. We are left shocked and speechless.”
In its previous reaction, the party insisted that Derby-Lewis was denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission because he did not fulfil the requirements and criteria to be given amnesty.
“Unrepentant, Derby-Lewis actually claimed that his Christian faith within the Afrikaans Protestant Church was central to his decision to participate in Hani’s assassination, while stating that this was sanctioned by senior leaders of the Conservative Party, whose names, by the way, were never… disclosed.
“The matter of the assassination of Comrade Chris Hani is not closed, and that will remain the case until justice is realised…”
The SACP stressed that “its unchanged stance on this principle is located within the confines of the law, associated regulations and processes”.
“And, as such, we are consulting our legal team to guide us on what other steps are available to continue with this fight of getting to the bottom of the killing of our former general secretary,” it said in a statement at the time.
Sunday Independent