Pretoria - Parole conditions have been set for Clive Derby-Lewis, the terminally ill man convicted for his part in the 1993 murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, the justice ministry said on Friday.
“Justice and Correctional Services Minister Advocate Michael Masutha and the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPB) have complied with the order of the North Gauteng High Court, delivered by Judge Selby Baqwa on 29 May 2015,” the ministry said in a statement. “In terms of the court order, the Minister and the CSPB of Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre were required to determine parole conditions for the release of Clive Derby-Lewis on medical parole by no later than today, 5th of June 2015.”
Derby-Lewis was technically a free man after Monday’s court judgment which stated he be released on parole immediately.
“This means that offender Derby-Lewis has been on parole upon issuing of the court order, and the only outstanding matter was determining of the conditions by the Minister and the CSPB,” the ministry said.
“These parole conditions have been set and communicated to the offender. It is important to note that the offender is currently in hospital, where he is receiving medical treatment.”
Details of the parole conditions would not be made public.
Masutha would be conveying his decision to comply with the court order to Hani’s widow Limpho.
In Monday’s judgement in the high court in Pretoria, Masutha’s original decision to deny Derby-Lewis parole was set aside.
Masutha had earlier this year turned down Derby-Lewis’ application to be placed on medical parole and found that he was not terminally ill.
While two doctors were of the opinion that Derby-Lewis suffered from stage four lung cancer and gave him six months to live (which is due to lapse in July), a third medical practitioner was of the opinion that he was in stage three cancer and that it was not spreading.
Masutha accepted the opinion that Derby-Lewis suffered from stage 3B cancer and concluded that he thus did not satisfy the criteria for medical parole, as set out in the Correctional Services Act.
“He just wants to die with dignity, at home with his family. It is an issue of humanity. The minister should have shown some compassion,” Derby-Lewis’s advocate Roelof du Plessis told the court at the time.
Derby-Lewis was in jail for 21 and half years following his murder conviction after Hani was assassinated outside his Boksburg home in 1993.
ANA