Opposition won't Shaik Schabir off for being Zuma's friend

There is this sudden and quick South African political obsession with keeping convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik in jail. The obsession has got nothing to do with the fight for justice and equality before the law but everything to do with the fact that he is friends with ANC President Jacob Zuma.

There is unfounded fear that his release smacks of a “generally corrupt relationship” that will undermine democracy and compromise the independence of judicial institutions like the parole board, for instance.

But let us look at the facts.

It was neither Zuma nor the ANC government or its executive that recommended Shaik be considered for medical parole. In fact, Zuma had absolutely nothing to do with this unless someone somewhere can prove the contrary. Instead, the report was signed by two of the country’s leading medical minds, Professor DP Naidoo, head of cardiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Dr S Khan, principal specialist in cardiology.

Now that we have established the credentials of the primary movers behind the recommendations, let us now consider the content of what their report said: “He (Schabir Shaik) remains at risk for a stroke, heart attack and blindness.”

“We cannot keep him in hospital indefinitely, and since the prison authorities are reluctant to mange him at the prison hospital, where conditions are suboptimal, we recommend that he be considered for medical parole.”

There it is in black and white!

But our politicians like Cope’s Mosiuoa Lekota, United Democratic Movement’s Bantu Holomisa, DA’s Helen Zille, Freedom Front’s Corne Mulder and Independent Democrat’s Patricia de Lille are up in arms. They suspect there is behind-the-scenes manipulation of the system.

But this is a myth. The professor and his doctor colleague were not dictated to by Zuma or the ANC. Also, the parole board is an independent structure that arrives at its own decisions without government interference. However, this has not stopped these politicians from distorting this issue and thus turning the plight of a sick prisoner into a political football to score cheap points.

It does not matter who Shaik’s friend is, he is a prisoner who deserves compassion and sympathy. Yes, if he must die, he must leave this world in peace and dignity. I fail to understand the motives of self-appointed moral guardians of society who want to make a big deal over the fact that a prisoner is spending time with his son in a hospital cafeteria. The man is being crucified simply because he is Zuma’s friend!

Yet the paradox of the Shaik case, for me, is that it emanates from the dreaded arms deal. Well, I understand Transparency International finds that the arms trade accounts for 50% of corruption in the world. Yes, arms deals are a dirty, intriguing and disgusting business. I guess everyone who knows international politics and business knows it is virtually impossible to do any business without getting your hands dirty. Ask the British and French, who know.

Yet some naïve South Africans — who think they are special — think that Shaik and Tony Yengeni, for instance, would have “succeeded” in the dirty game of global politics and business without getting their hands dirtied. Well, perhaps it is time that we examine why the British government, whose former senior members, like Tony Blair, were linked to British Aerospace, has squashed investigations into the arms deal.

My thinking is that the Shaik case cannot be viewed in isolation. We need to have a candid dialogue about how and why a noble patriot and hero of the struggle could have lost his way to be sucked into the inherently evil capitalist system and how it does its business, especially in arms.

The focus on his medical parole is only the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps nobody should pay attention to what anti-ANC politicians have to say. After all, they are using the Shaik case to try to stop Zuma from his presidency so that they can take the number one job at the Union Buildings for themselves.

Well, they can dream on.

The major impact of the Shaik case is not to promote alleged corruption or give early parole to people because of their political connections. There are thousands of sick prisoners who are condemned to ignoble death simply because they are denied medical role.

As prison activist Miles Bhudu of the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights says, we have to put on rose-coloured glasses regarding the Shaik case.

Yes, the Shaik case has the potential not only to put the spotlight on the plight of sick prisoners but open doors to those who have been neglected and abandoned simply because they are criminals. But criminals are also human beings with rights enshrined in the Constitution.

In fact, as far as the arms deal is concerned, the guilty party are not those who committed the criminal act — like Shaik or Yengeni, for instance — but corrupt globalisation and immoral business systems that make it impossible for struggle heroes to remain moral.

Unfortunately, South Africans, just like other post-uhuru colonies, have been sucked into the global village through political transactions like the arms deal. The globalisation of our politics and business practices has put local politicians in closer contact with selfish and greedy money-mongers from the West who buy their way into global economic power and control.

Of course, listening to local politicians pontificate on the Shaik medical parole may lead one to question their exact motives. But we should not lose sight of the fact that Shaik is being persecuted in his death bed. He is a fallen hero who could not resist the temptations that were offered by an inherently corrupt system of wheeling and dealing propped up by Western governments. If he must die, let the man enjoy a muffin and cappuccino with his son. In fact, let us forget about who his friend is and concentrate on the plight of a South African prisoner.

It is time opposition politicians put morality and integrity into the “fight black” strategies!