High court grants Derby-Lewis parole‚ overturns minister’s ruling

The North Gauteng High Court on Friday granted medical parole to Clive Derby-Lewis with immediate effect.

Derby-Lewis‚ who is terminally ill with cancer‚ has served 21 and a half years of the life sentence he received for his role in the killing of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani.

The court set aside Justice Minister Michael Masutha’s January decision to refuse him medical parole.

The court gave the parole board until next Friday‚ June 5‚ to decide the conditions of Derby-Lewis’s release.

Derby-Lewis’s lawyer‚ Roelof du Plessis‚ argued in court this week that Masutha had been procedurally unfair in his decision. The justice and correctional services department said Derby-Lewis’s cancer had not reached the legal stage that allowed for a medical parole.

Derby-Lewis has been denied parole since 2007.

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