Fraser to get off scot-free, despite his unlawful actions threatening stability

Whilst the spotlight is on the beleaguered Jacob Zuma returning to prison after his release on parole was declared illegal, Arthur Fraser, the man who made it all possible, has quietly gotten away with his unlawful conduct.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has thrown out the former president’s appeal to set aside the Pretoria High Court ruling that his medical parole was illegal and ordered him back to prison.

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The SCA confirmed in a unanimous judgment on Monday that the decision to grant Zuma medical parole was unlawful and invalid, upholding the earlier high court decision.

Violence

Zuma had served just two months of his 15-month sentence when Fraser, then commissioner of correctional services, released him on medical parole, against the Medical Parole Advisory Board’s recommendation.

In July last year the former president handed himself over to the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal after much remonstrations and threats of anarchy by his supporters.

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This after the Constitutional Court found him guilty and sentenced him for contempt of court after he refused to testify at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture or State Capture commission

His incarceration triggered public unrest that swept across KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, resulting in the death 354 people, R50 billion in damage and 150 000 job losses, in violence on a scale never seen in post-apartheid South Africa.

No accountability

There are real fears that his return to prison could spark similar unrest, or worse, and law enforcement agencies have already proven to be useless to maintain law and order.

Public interest group Accountability Now has lamented that Fraser, the man responsible for Zuma’s illegal freedom, will most likely not held accountable for his illegal and seemingly dangerous actions.

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Director Advocate Paul Paul Hoffman said Fraser was no longer employed by the state and therefore could not be held accountable.

“There will be no comeback because he is no longer subject to the discipline of the public service. He is no longer commissioner. In fact, he is just a pensioner now. He has no position in government. I do not think [Fraser] will ever be held accountable for what he has done,” he said.

Hoffman said Fraser could however still be pursued for legal costs racked up because of his illegal decision, but for this to happen it must be proven that he was motivated by malice in releasing Zuma.

“Legal costs were incurred because of his mistake but you will have to produce some evidence of some sort that he deliberately acted unlawfully and that is going to be very hard for anyone to produce,” he said.

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Hoffman agreed that Fraser going scot-free could motivate other civil servants to act illegally, but said this will not happen again if President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered on the promise he made based on the recommendations of the State Capture commission.

“This will be addressed by what [Ramaphosa] promised to do…to professionalise the public sector, to appoint people on merit and for their honesty; and this kind of things will not happen again,” he said.

Scandalous

The Commission has recommended that Fraser be investigated for mishandling and distribution of large amounts of money from the State Security Agency (SSA) during his tenure at the helm of the spy agency.

Fraser, the Commission heard, established running a separate and discrete parallel intelligence structure within the SSA to advance Zuma’s political interests.

The correctional services have since appealed the SCA judgement and order to return Zuma back to prison at the highest court in the land.

AfriForum campaign officer for strategy and content Reiner Duvenage said their legal team was weighing its options on their move on Fraser.

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