Arthur Fraser admits he went against board to grant Zuma medical parole
The National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, has admitted that he rescinded the decision by the Medical Parole Advisory Board to grant medical parole to former president Jacob Zuma.
Fraser made the revelations while in conversation with Vuyo Mvoko on the SABC's "Watchdog" programme on Wednesday night.
Prisons boss, Fraser, told how the Medical Parole Advisory Board did not approve for Zuma to be granted medical parole and found that he was in a stable condition in the hospital outside the Estcourt Prison where he had been admitted at the beginning of August.
"Recommendations were made to the medical parole of the Board and the recommendations were that the Board did not approve for medical parole because they indicated that he was in a stable condition.
"When the Medical Advisory Board provided those recommendations, I had then, the head of the centre who has the authority to decide, then reviewed the information available and then indicated the conditions based on all the reports that we have required to release the former President.
"I then rescinded those allegations, and I took the decision to place him on medical parole."
President Zuma was granted medical parole on Sunday, a decision that took South Africans by surprise.
Zuma was admitted to the Escourt Correctional Facility in KwaZulu-Natal on 8 July to serve 15 months for contempt of court.
Meanwhile, the corruption trial against Zuma is due to resume in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.
