All but DA welcome parole for Cekeshe

AS POLITICAL parties, civil society organisations and students hailed the government’s decision to grant convicted #FeesMustFall activist Khanya Cekeshe a special remission which qualifies him for parole, the DA Student Organisation (Daso) is caught between either joining other student formations in welcoming Cekeshe’s parole, or joining its mother body in condemning it.

This comes after the DA insisted that Cekeshe be kept in jail.

Cekeshe is among more than 14 000 prisoners who are set to be released from prison after President Cyril Ramaphosa issued them with special remissions.

The activist was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail for burning a police vehicle during the #FeesMustFall protests which engulfed the country in 2015/16, as students put pressure on the government to roll out free higher education.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola indicated that the special remissions were in line with the Day of Reconciliation, and intended to integrate some of the offenders back into society.

DA spokesperson on justice and correctional services Glynnis Breytenbach said the DA was opposed to the entire process of special remissions, saying none of the prescribed conditions for parole would be followed.

“When you are going to release 14 000 people, do you think for every one of those 14 000 prisoners you are going to carefully make sure that they meet all the conditions? I don’t think so,” Breytenbach said.

While the EFF, ANC, student movements and civil society organisations, including Section27, hailed the decision to qualify Cekeshe for parole, the DA condemned the decision.

Breytenbach said the party was opposed to Cekeshe’s release, because he had failed to argue why he should not face the full might of the law.

“It does not matter how just the cause was, what Cekeshe did is that he burnt a police vehicle. Every single day you hear people complaining that they call the police and the police don’t come, and when you ask them why they don’t come, they don’t have vehicles,” she said.

Last month, Cekeshe was hospitalised for mental health challenges. But Breytenbach said even Cekeshe’s deteriorating medical condition was not a reason to set him free.

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalinyebo is among the prisoners set to benefit from the special remissions. He was jailed for 12 years for kidnapping, arson, assault, culpable homicide and defeating the ends of justice.