A MAN who took part in the brutal murder of a child whose private parts, liver and heart were cut off for muthi is among prisoners who want to be paroled.
Phillip Shoba was convicted for the murder of the 10-year-old girl from Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, in March 1990. He has applied for parole.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha is now considering his application. Shoba was sentenced to death after pointing out the child's body and implicating two other men - "Tshindile", who throttled and mutilated the child, and "Ngiliza", who provided the razor blade used to cut the parts.
Two apartheid-era policemen, Anilraj Singh and Praveen Ramdas, who were also IFP members, also want their freedom. The four murders committed in the early 1990s for which they were convicted included that of ANC member Solomon Dlamini, who was pushed off a bridge after being shot.
According to a list of prisoners being considered for parole sent to parliament, the murderers' bids are among more than a dozen to be considered by Masutha and the National Council on Correctional Services (NCCS), whose chairman is Western Cape High Court Judge Seraj Desai.
Other would-be parolees include Tshanibezwe Nyuswa and Xolani Mthembu, who were both only 19 when they were convicted of murder and robbery in 2011 and each handed two life sentences and a further 45 years in prison.
Shoba, Singh, Ramdas, Nyuswa and Mthembu applied for parole on the basis of judgments handed down by the Constitutional Court in 2010 and 2011 in murderer and robber Paul van Vuuren and murderer and car thief Cornelius van Wyk's separate cases.
The country's highest court ruled that Van Vuuren, a former death row inmate, was eligible for consideration for parole and placement under community corrections. The ConCourt ordered then correctional services minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to consider him for release with immediate effect.
The ConCourt decided in July 2011 that Van Wyk and other offenders serving life sentences before October 2004 were entitled to be considered for parole in terms of the policy which applied at the date they committed the crimes.
Some of the prisoners who are up for parole still need to have their profile reports compiled for consideration by the correctional supervision and parole board and thereafter to be submitted for consideration to the NCCS and Masutha.
"Our commitment is to ensure effective social reintegration with more involvement by victims, families and communities," Masutha told parliament during the correctional services' budget vote on Wednesday.
Hardened cons might be set free
A MAN who took part in the brutal murder of a child whose private parts, liver and heart were cut off for muthi is among prisoners who want to be paroled.
Phillip Shoba was convicted for the murder of the 10-year-old girl from Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, in March 1990. He has applied for parole.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha is now considering his application. Shoba was sentenced to death after pointing out the child's body and implicating two other men - "Tshindile", who throttled and mutilated the child, and "Ngiliza", who provided the razor blade used to cut the parts.
Two apartheid-era policemen, Anilraj Singh and Praveen Ramdas, who were also IFP members, also want their freedom. The four murders committed in the early 1990s for which they were convicted included that of ANC member Solomon Dlamini, who was pushed off a bridge after being shot.
According to a list of prisoners being considered for parole sent to parliament, the murderers' bids are among more than a dozen to be considered by Masutha and the National Council on Correctional Services (NCCS), whose chairman is Western Cape High Court Judge Seraj Desai.
Other would-be parolees include Tshanibezwe Nyuswa and Xolani Mthembu, who were both only 19 when they were convicted of murder and robbery in 2011 and each handed two life sentences and a further 45 years in prison.
Shoba, Singh, Ramdas, Nyuswa and Mthembu applied for parole on the basis of judgments handed down by the Constitutional Court in 2010 and 2011 in murderer and robber Paul van Vuuren and murderer and car thief Cornelius van Wyk's separate cases.
The country's highest court ruled that Van Vuuren, a former death row inmate, was eligible for consideration for parole and placement under community corrections. The ConCourt ordered then correctional services minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to consider him for release with immediate effect.
The ConCourt decided in July 2011 that Van Wyk and other offenders serving life sentences before October 2004 were entitled to be considered for parole in terms of the policy which applied at the date they committed the crimes.
Some of the prisoners who are up for parole still need to have their profile reports compiled for consideration by the correctional supervision and parole board and thereafter to be submitted for consideration to the NCCS and Masutha.
"Our commitment is to ensure effective social reintegration with more involvement by victims, families and communities," Masutha told parliament during the correctional services' budget vote on Wednesday.
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