document: Parole rule frees two after 17 years On Saturday , Fusi Mofokeng and Tshokolo Joseph Mokoena will walk out of Kroonstad Prison as free men -- 17 years after being jailed for a crime they did not commit . The men were imprisoned for life for their supposed involvement with an ANC self-defence unit -LRB- SDU -RRB- that killed a policeman and caused permanent brain damage to a second near Bethlehem in the Free State . They were also jailed for 18 years for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit robbery . The State at the time claimed Mofokeng and Mokoena had conspired with the SDU to rob a smallholding in the area . A local farmer was shot . After nearly two decades of failed attempts at pleading their innocence to influential people from Thabo Mbeki to Desmond Tutu , a Constitutional Court judgment this week on who should handle the parole process for prisoners serving life sentences imposed before October 1 , 2004 , has ensured that the men will finally go home on Saturday . The judgment says the minister of correctional services will now consider the placement of lifers sentenced between August 1 , 1987 and March 1 , 1994 , without the involvement of the National Council for Correctional Services -LRB- NCCS -RRB- . `` They -LRB- Mofokeng and Mokoena -RRB- were in tears when we told them that they would be free tomorrow , '' said Jomo Nyambi -LRB- MP -RRB- , the chairman of the Select Committee on Petitions and Members Legislative Proposals yesterday . `` They just ca n't wait for tomorrow . '' In 2009 , the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces was petitioned to refer the two men 's matter to Nyambi 's committee for investigation . But their situation meant years of legal action . Later that year , Jeremy Gordin , the director of the Justice Project of the Wits Journalism School , entered the fray and took up the cudgels for Mofokeng and Mokoena . The team realised that the solution for the men was to apply for parole . But then Minister of Correctional Services Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula proclaimed she could not grant anyone parole without a favourable recommendation from the NCCS and that she had to get clarity from the Constitutional Court before granting any paroles . On Thursday , the department welcomed the clarity provided by the Constitutional Court , and immediately started with the consideration for placement on parole of the 385 lifers who fell within this time period . But Nyambi , Gordin and their teams had even more to celebrate , when , hours later , Mapisa-Nqakula issued instructions that Mofokeng and Mokoena be released on Saturday . Nyambi , and his committee who all travelled to Joburg from Kroonstad to hear the Constitutional Court 's judgment , said yesterday : `` This case is a clear indication of the travesty of justice under apartheid and utter disregard for the rights of our people . '' Nyambi said the committee was happy with the co-operation it had received from the different parties . `` Their release is one of the last steps that our nation is taking to put an end to a tragic past that destroyed many people 's lives , including the two who have spent almost two decades -LRB- in jail -RRB- for a crime they did not commit . '' The Select Committee on Petitions and Members Legislative Proposals will attend the release of Mofokeng and Mokoena today at 11am at the Kroonstad Prison . * Meanwhile , Mapisa-Nqakula s a statement on Friday she would soon begin to process all the lifers who had been referred by the NCCS in recent years . The minister said steps had been taken to start the process as early as Monday . These steps will include adding extra administrative capacity to her office in an attempt to ensure the processing of the parole applications as quickly as possible . Maximum effort would also be made by the department to contact the victims of the crimes perpetrated by the remaining applicants , in line with the spirit of the White Paper on Corrections . Mapisa-Nqakula said she would announce decisions on the first 95 parole applications on April 8 , and conclude decisions about the remaining 290 on May 15 . Where necessary , lifers falling within this group of parole applicants may be temporarily all moved to one facility in an attempt to allow easier completion of processing by the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards , who would not then have to spend time travelling to different prisons . `` The Ministry of Correctional Services wishes to emphasise to both applicants and the South African public that being considered for parole does not automatically mean parole will be granted , as parole is a privilege dependent on specific and certain qualifying criteria and not a right , '' Mapisa-Nqakula added . - Saturday Star
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