Durban – The Department of Correctional Services has come out to clarify that the former head of the KwaZulu-Natal Treasury, Sipho Shabalala, did not pull a ‘Thabo Bester’, but that he was freed through a court order.
This follows concerns that Shabalala was freed a few months after serving his 15-year sentence for corruption.
In September last year, Shabalala was sentenced by the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the Amigos case.
When he attempted to appeal the ruling, the high court turned him down and ordered that he should start serving his sentence immediately.
He was found to have received a bribe of R1 million from the R44 million tender for purification plants in hospitals in the province, and the bribe was passed to the ANC.
IOL was alerted by sources within KwaZulu-Natal on three occasions that Shabalala was out and had been spotted, even doing shopping.
One source spotted him in Mpendle in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, alerted IOL, and likened him to Thabo Bester.
“We have another case of Thabo Bester near us. Sipho Shabalala is out of prison; we spotted him driving around Mpendle today,” the source told IOL in March.
Since then, he has been spotted in Howick, and the most recent sighting was when he was spotted on a farm in Greytown, just outside Pietermaritzburg.
“You can’t believe that I have just seen (Sipho) Shabalala; he is out enjoying life on a farm here in Greytown.
“I thought he was in jail,” the source told IOL.
IOL asked the department about the matter, and it said he was granted bail and was then freed until his matter was heard.
“He is out on bail,” said Singabakho Nxumalo, the spokesperson for the department, who shared the SCA ruling that granted Shabalala freedom.
According to the SCA ruling, he was freed in November last year, and no date had been set so far for his appeal.
Shabalala’s lawyers followed up on their vow that they would directly petition the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to overturn the ruling that turned down his appeal attempt and frogmarched him to prison.
Current Affairs