‘Some terminally ill people are alive and thriving 15 years later’: SA’s medical parole system questioned

Members of Parliament (MPs) have raised concerns about South Africa’s parole system, particularly medical parole, calling for reform.

On Tuesday, Correctional Services Deputy Minister Lindiwe Ntshalintshali and department officials appeared before Parliament.

The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services was briefed on the structure and functions of the parole system, as well as the challenges and legislative progress related to its overhaul.

SA’s medical parole system

Correctional Services chief deputy commissioner for incarceration and corrections Anna Molepo addressed the issue of medical parole, which is managed by the Medical Parole Advisory Board (MPAB).

The MPAB is tasked with providing independent medical reports and making recommendations to the national commissioner, the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPBs), or the minister on whether granting medical parole to inmates is warranted.

Molepo revealed that 85 inmates had applied for medical parole in the previous financial year.

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Of the total, 43 prisoners were recommended for medical parole and 13 others saw their application for their possible release being denied.

The Correctional Services official indicated that 22 offenders died before their medical parole applications could be finalised.

“There are various reasons for offenders who passed on either before assessment or after assessment; it could be due to the medical condition,” she said on Tuesday.

Additionally, there are 12 medical parole applications currently under review by the MPAB.

Watch the meeting below:

Of the seven remaining applications, four prisoners were granted normal parole, two applications were returned and one was withdrawn.

“What it means is that sometimes an application will be submitted and you will find that an offender has reached a determinate sentence, whereby the CSPB will consider the offender for parole so they were released on normal parole before medical parole,” Molepo added.

She further explained that some applications were returned due to being incomplete, while others were withdrawn when an inmate faced new criminal charges.

Medical parole decisions in the spotlight

During deliberations, MPs expressed concern about inmates who were granted medical parole due to terminal illness, but are still “alive and thriving” more than a decade or 15 years later.

“My question is how many people were placed on medical parole due to them being terminally ill, but does the department then follow up on these medical parole releases or are these awards of medical parole once granted considered free for all?” Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Damien Klopper said.

Correctional Services national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale stated that statistics on inmates who were released on medical parole but were “later found to be functioning optimally” would be provided to the committee in writing.

“It’s a very low number and we can also provide the reasons for the medical parole to be granted. I must qualify my answer by saying that the Medical Parole Board is constituted of experts in the medical field and health sciences,” he told the committee.

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Thobakgale indicated that in 99% of the time, the department adopts the board’s recommendations.

“There would be exceptional cases that are known and are in the public, but as I said, the numbers are very low even in cases that are not in the public domain,” the commissioner added.

Meanwhile, Janho Engelbrecht, a DA MP, highlighted the need for reform in the parole system.

“The parole system in South Africa is not really a good story to tell.

“It caused reputational damage to the DCS (Department of Correctional Services) in the past. There’s a long list of cases, where parolees committed heinous crimes,” Engelbrecht said.

Schabir Shaik medical parole scandal

Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was controversially granted medical parole as he was deemed “terminally ill” and was released in 2009, after serving two years and four months of his 15-year prison term.

Shaik, who has close ties with former president Jacob Zuma, was convicted of fraud and corruption in 2005.

His parole release was considered unlawful, resulting in an amendment of section 79 of the Correctional Services Act

He is a free man after his sentence expired in January 2020 and is now a member of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

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