A faction of Mzansi has been in jovial spirits since the Department of Correctional Services, headed by Arthur Fraser, confirmed former president Jacob Zuma is now serving his remaining contempt bid under medical parole.
Here’s why Jacob Zuma is on medical parole
On Sunday, department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo revealed that after receiving a medical report from doctors, the parole board took the decision to place the former president on compassionate leave from his 15-month bid.
This means that Zuma will spend the remainder of his sentence outside of the Estcourt Correctional Services facility.
“Medical parole’s eligibility for Mr Zuma is impelled by a medical report received by the Department of Correctional Services. Apart from being terminally ill and physically incapacitated, inmates suffering from an illness that severely limits their daily activity or self-care can also be considered for medical parole,” the statement read.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation has welcomed the decision and confirmed that Zuma is still in hospital. However, it’s not known which healthcare facility has taken the former president in at this time.
Who is Arthur Fraser? – Here’s what we know
Already, alarm bells have rung off about the underlying — if any — conditions of Zuma’s short stay in prison. The man who defamed the Constitutional Court only spent a few weeks behind bars and now, a month after he was kept in hospital, supposedly as a precautionary measure necessitated by his ailing condition, a path has been paved for the 79-year-old to reunite with his family in Nkandla much sooner than anyone had anticipated.
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), a lot more clarity is needed from the corrections department on its decision to place Zuma on medical parole. The man with the answers, DA leader John Steenhuisen claims, is National Commission of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser.
“It should also be noted that the medical parole was granted by Zuma’s former spy boss, Arthur Fraser – a man deeply implicated in the corruption of the State Security Agency and accused of running an illegal parallel intelligence structure,” Steenhuisen highlighted.
Fraser, a longtime servant of the ANC’s struggle movement, is a close ally of the former president. This is supported by the mountain of evidence collected at the State Capture Inquiry (SCI) on the role of the State Security Agency (SSA) in the alleged shenanigans of the Zuma administration.
Under Zuma’s presidential tenure, Fraser served as Director-General of the SSA. According to testimony made by an anonymous whistleblower only known to the commission as ‘Ms K’, Fraser was allegedly key to a lot of underhanded calls made by the SSA in protection of the former president.
For instance, the State Capture whistleblower told the commission that Fraser allegedly signed off on a R20 million payment to African News Agency (ANA) in January 2017 as part of a media silencing project termed ‘Project Wave’.
This claim was corroborated by the implicated publication in January 2021, when the news organisation confirmed that ANA “had a contract with the SSA to provide multimedia training for SSA analysts and interns across Africa…”
According to ANA chief executive Vasantha Angamuthu, the publication’s role in the SSA contract was to “use its platforms, in particular the African Independent newspaper, to carry positive stories about South Africa and the South African government.”
Despite this allegation and others made by Ms K and other SCI witnesses, Fraser still holds his position at the helm of the corrections department.
However, reports have indicated that Fraser may be on his way out of the portfolio, with his contract set to expire on 25 September 2021.
Sources who’ve reliably divulged information to News24 suggest that the national commissioner’s not facing a renewal and there is a growing belief that placing Zuma on medical parole may have been his last drawing card on his exit.
With all the uncertainty swelling around the high-ranking figure, we gathered some information about him. Here’s what we found:
- Fraser joined the ANC as a student in the early days of the struggle movement
- It’s believed he was exiled during apartheid. Although, not much information can be found online about this
- Soon after reportedly returning from exile, Fraser joined the ranks of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)
- He served as an investigator in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
- He holds a BA degree in Film and Video Production from The London Institute
- Fraser is the co-founder of Resurgent Risk Managers