Dalindyebo’s release lies in hands of Zuma only

While calls for the release of jailed AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo continue to grow, Justice Minister Michael Masutha told journalists yesterday the final decision on whether he was pardoned or not lay with President Jacob Zuma.

However, they had yet to receive a formal application for it.

“Under the constitution of this country, only the president can pardon an offender,” he said.

Masutha, who had traded his business suit for a pair of blue overalls, was addressing the media during a visit to Mthatha’s Efata School for the Blind and Deaf, where he led a team of offenders and parolees in sprucing up the 58-year-old school.

The department is partnering with the public broadcaster’s social responsibility arm, the SABC Foundation, to refurbish the school.

The work includes erecting a proper fence around the school as well as cleaning up the buildings and classrooms and giving them a fresh coat of paint.

Dalindyebo has served two years of a 12-year sentence for assault, arson, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice, at West Bank Prison in East London.

The Daily Dispatch reported on Wednesday that the release of Dalindyebo had been top of the agenda when newly-elected ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa visited AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu at his Nqadu Great Place near Willowvale on Tuesday.

Renowned for his outspokenness, the monarch pulled no punches in urging Ramaphosa and his ANC top five to release Dalindyebo, describing the king’s incarceration as one of the most worrying issues for all the kings and other traditional leaders.

When asked about the possibility of a pardon for Dalindyebo, Masutha yesterday said they had not received an application to that effect. He said a previous attempt had been made but it had not been done procedurally.

Last year, the Dispatch reported that the Eastern Cape Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa had made an application to Masutha to have the jailed leader pardoned but stated that this was unlikely to happen as the application was made by a third party and not by Dalindyebo himself.

It was also reported at the time that he had not accepted responsibility for the crimes he was found guilty of, nor had he shown remorse for them – something which was considered the first step towards a pardon.

In addition, the Dispatch reported he had been the only convicted prisoner in the history of the country to refuse to wear the traditional orange prison garb.

Yesterday, Masutha said his office received applications for presidential pardons on a daily basis.

“After they are submitted, they are processed and then forwarded to the Presidency as it is up to the Presidency to make a final determination on them.”

Turning his attention to the purpose of his visit to Efata, he said the cleanup formed part of his department’s annual back-to-school programme, which targeted around 1300 schools countrywide, 300 of them in the Eastern Cape.

Efata was among 22 special needs schools earmarked for renovations by his department, which was working together with other stakeholders.

The SABC’s Umhlobo Wenene station manager, Phumzile Mnci, said they had jumped at the chance to partner with the department on the Efata project, as they had always positioned themselves as a community-builder. He said they spent over R200000 to purchase equipment and other necessities to assist pupils at Efata. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za