Selebi delays jail term

DISGRACED former police commissioner Jackie Selebi's lawyers will this morning make representations to the registrar of the Johannesburg High Court to ask for an extension of his R20000 bail and for his bail conditions to be amended in light of his hospitalisation.

Selebi - who collapsed during the announcement making final that he had to serve a lengthy jail term - will not go to prison today but instead spent another day in hospital.

Selebi was supposed to report to the Johannesburg Prison to start his 15-year jail sentence for receiving benefits from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti.

On Friday the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld that the state had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Selebi received payments from Agliotti on four occasions.

The former national police commissioner was ordered to hand himself over to the Department of Correctional Services to start serving his sentence.

Selebi, 61, was admitted to the Jacaranda Hospital in Pretoria on Friday morning after collapsing at his home in Waterkloof, Pretoria, moments after the SCA had dismissed his appeal against his corruption conviction and 15-year prison sentence.

Selebi's lawyer, Waynanda Coetzee, said yesterday that Selebi's legal team would approach the registrar's office this morning to make representations to the Department of Correctional Services to have Selebi's bail extended and also to amend his bail conditions.

"We have made an arrangement and we will take the doctor's notes to the registrar (today). He is still in hospital and doing better than on Friday.

"We will have a clearer indication of what is wrong with him when his regular physician examines him (today)," Coetzee said in response to a query from Sowetan.

But Coetzee would not be drawn into confirming that Selebi had suffered a partial stroke.

"I cannot confirm that it is a stroke. We are waiting to get a report from his permanent specialist," she said.

Coetzee said Selebi's family was stressed about the SCA's verdict.

"The family is very stressed, especially his wife, but they are all worried about his medical condition," Coetzee said.

She denied that Selebi's lawyers had asked the Department of Correctional Services for an extension of seven days to allow Selebi to recover in hospital.

"That's news to me," she said.

Though the nature of Selebi's illness is unclear, The Sunday Independent reported that Selebi had suffered a partial stroke, affecting his left side.

The paper also reported that Selebi had kidney problems and high blood pressure and was scheduled to undergo a major operation in February.

Selebi was convicted for receiving money and gifts from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti.

But Selebi, after an exposé by the Sunday Times in 2006 about the inner workings of mafia-style organisations involving senior policemen, denied involvement, saying his hands were clean.

He told a press conference that he was not involved in any criminal activity and that Agliotti was his friend "finish and klaar".

Tom Monyane, national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, said in the event that Selebi did not report to prison as expected, it was incumbent on his lawyers and family members to make written representations to the department to give reasons.

"We have to be considerate about this," he said.

"We cannot incarcerate someone who is not well."

"Our duty is not to arrest anyone because we are not an arresting agency but an incarceration agent."

Monyane said he had not yet received any official documents from Selebi's family or his lawyers asking the Department of Correctional Services for a seven-day extension to remain in hospital.

"I am not aware of such a request. I have not yet received it," he said.

Department of Justice spokesman Tlali Tlali said the process of recovering millions used by the state to defend Selebi had started, but said it was "not necessary to get carried away".

"This will be carried out like a normal debt-collecting process, which does not start off by demanding that his assets must be attached."

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said yesterday that the Selebi matter was not in their hands.

The NPA said it would be handled by the registrar of the Johannesburg High Court and the Department of Correctional Services.

"We are not involved in this process," said advocate Mthunzi Mhaga, the NPA spokesman.

Selebi's friend Agliotti remained tight-lipped about the former police chief's impending incarceration.

"I have no comment for the press," Agliotti said yesterday.