Arthur Fraser, as pictured here – Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Jaco Marais)
Arthur Fraser, as pictured here – Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Jaco Marais)
With Jacob Zuma now all but guaranteed a return to prison in the near future, many people are looking to piece together how this whole sorry episode was allowed to play out – and all avenues lead to Arthur Fraser.
How Arthur Fraser got Jacob Zuma out of jail
Now serving as the Correctional Services Commissioner, Fraser was one of Zuma’s top allies during his nine years as president. Not only was he named as one of Msholozi’s ‘keepers’ in an explosive investigative book, but he served as the 79-year-old’s State Security Minister – a post that was dominated by controversy.
Nonetheless, when an old friend needed a favour earlier this year, Arthur Fraser got to work – putting his professional reputation on the line once more. The game, it seems, has not paid off.
Help or hinderance? Attempts to free Jacob Zuma fall flat
The Gauteng High Court has ruled on Wednesday that the medical parole Mr. Fraser granted to uBaba was ‘unlawful’. This had been long suspected, after a now-infamous interview the prison boss gave to SABC in September.
Arthur Fraser openly admitted that he IGNORED a recommendation from the medical parole advisory board, which stated Jacob Zuma ‘did not qualify’ for medical parole. He quite literally took the law into his own hands, and proudly declared that he was the one who signed off on Zuma’s release.
Arthur Fraser may have ‘extended’ uBaba’s slammer saga
That decision, however, seems to have backfired spectacularly. Questions are now being asked about Fraser’s competence as a high-ranking official within Correctional Services. But what is more, the attempt to help Zuma ‘get out of jail free’ may have done the ex-head of state more harm than good.
In July, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison – but under the terms of his sentence, he’d have been able to apply for parole after only four months. It’s quite conceivable, therefore, that Nkandla’s most famous resident would already be out of jail and home for the holidays, had Arthur Fraser not intervened.
The Gauteng High Court made it clear that the three months Zuma has spent out of prison since September ‘will not count as time served’ – meaning he has to serve the full remainder of his sentence.
- With friends like these, Jacob Zuma doesn’t need any enemies…
