Let Shaik probe take its course - minister
2011-03-15 20:07
Cape Town - Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Tuesday urged political parties to await the outcome of the probe into convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.
Prison officials interviewed Shaik at his Morningside, Durban, home, then took him to Westville Prison in a correctional services car on Monday.
He was reportedly involved in an altercation with another man in the car park of a Durban mosque on Friday, and recently had a set to with Sunday Tribune journalist Amanda Khoza on a golf course.
She laid a charge of assault against him, alleging he slapped her.
Shaik was released on parole in 2009 after serving just over two years of a 15-year prison sentence - mostly in hospital - for corruption and fraud following a probe into South Africa's arms deal.
Replying to points raised during members' statements in the National Assembly, Mapisa-Nqakula said the matter was currently under investigation and once this was concluded it would be handed over to the community corrections supervision committee, who in turn could would report to the parole board.
The board was an independent entity and would then take whatever decision it deemed fit.
Under investigation
"It may either invoke the parole or may actually take a decision to amend the conditions of Mr Shaik's release," she said.
"I think that we should all wait for the outcome of the investigation... this is not a matter that you want to play politics around."
It was simply a matter of principle, guided by the law and all the steps taken were clearly stipulated in law.
"You may hold your own views on the matter. You may feel that it's long overdue. That's your view and you have a right to your view.
"My view and my decision and the decision of the national commissioner and the regional commissioner from KwaZulu-Natal is that right now we've taken action, we've booked Mr Shaik, and Mr Shaik is under investigation."
Whatever people believed should have been done in the past was "neither here nor there".
"The point is now he is inside and of course he will be there for the next 72 hours," Mapisa-Nqakula said.
- SAPA
