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The special remission of sentence granted to former president Jacob Zuma on Friday, which will also be afforded to more than 9 000 "low-risk" offenders, will not see the convicts reoffending, as "not all the inmates will be released from jail".
This is according to justice and correctional services department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri who dismissed the DA's concerns that the convicts who qualified for their sentences to be remitted were likely to reoffend.
‘Low-risk offenders unlikely to reoffend’
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and acting Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale announced earlier that Zuma was among those who had benefitted from a remission of sentences. Phiri emphasised that that the department had measures in place to deal with this.
He explained to City Press that the remission of sentence did not mean that all the inmates would be released from jail.
“The offenders who are in for a very long time, and may benefit from this, are at low-risk offenders. Their sentence will be remitted by 12 months, which does not necessary mean that they will be let back into communities. It means that their sentences will just be reduced by 12 months and means that they may qualify for parole quicker.”
He added:
On Thursday President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on a special remission programme that would see more than 9 000 low-risk offenders, including Zuma, benefiting from in a move Lamola said was meant to "address overcrowding in the country's correctional centres".
READ: Zuma sent back to jail, and released after two hours
Lamola said the remission of sentence meant that Zuma would not serve the remainder of his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court. Last month, the Constitutional Court upheld the Supreme Court of Appeal's ruling that his original release on medical parole in 2021 by former correctional services commissioner, Arthur Fraser, was unlawful.
DA raises concerns
The DA's spokesperson on justice and correctional services, Glynnis Breytenbach, told City Press on Friday that the party was concerned that the convicted criminals who will benefit from the programme might reoffend, if they are released from jail.
“The 9 487 [convicts] that they have been at pains to explain is the absolute minimum and they'll probably be more. We need to watch that process very carefully,” Breytenbach said.
She added:
READ: Commissioner must determine Zuma's remaining jail time - SCA
DA to seek record of decision making
The DA accused Ramaphosa of "weaseling out of standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution" by granting Zuma a special remission of sentence.
Zuma was released from the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal after just over an hour in jail on Friday.
The DA, which successfully challenged his unlawful release on medical parole in 2021 just two months into his 15-month sentence, is now seeking the record of the decision from Ramaphosa on why he granted his predecessor a remission of sentence. Breytenbach said the party wanted to ensure that Ramaphosa made the right decision "based on rational and fair administration of process as required by the Constitution".
The official opposition party is also seeking records from Thobakgale, who personally oversaw Zuma’s release after the Constitutional Court left it up to him to decide if the time the former president had spent on medical parole should still count as time served.
“We are taking legal advice on this decision because every decision has to pass the rationality test," Breytenbach said.
She added:
Was Zuma’s release a coincidence?
Breytenbach also questioned the timing of Zuma's release: “We have to look at those records very carefully and the legislation. And of course, there are extraneous factors. The confluence of coincidences here is just too big to ignore.”
She said Zuma’s remission of sentence was an “abomination of a decision” that cannot be left unchallenged. Breytenbach poured water on Lamola's justification that the decision on Zuma was meant to address overcrowding at the country’s prisons. She said overcrowding at prisons has been a long-standing problem that cannot be addressed through the remission of sentences.
'An insult to justice'
Meanwhile, Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which also challenged Zuma's release on medical parole in court, has also condemned Ramaphosa's decision to grant his predecessor remission.
In a statement, AfriForum's campaign officer for strategy and content Ernst van Zyl, said Zuma's special treatment was "an insult to justice".
"There is no more privileged and protected position in South Africa than being an ANC cadre," he said. "Zuma's special treatment and evading of justice proves this once again."
