Parole plea for dying Derby-Lewis
WITH his right lung riddled with cancer and about to collapse, Clive Derby-Lewis has up to six months to live.
His lawyer, Marius Coertze, said doctors treating DerbyLewis, who turns 79 next month, had said the cancer was spreading fast and had taken over 98% of his lung.
He said Derby-Lewis was operated on two weeks ago to treat chest complications.
Coertze said he also suffered from skin cancer (face and arms) and high blood pressure.
“He is facing death. His age has made his condition devastating. How long must he wait? Until he dies? He just wants to say goodbye to his wife and children. He wants to die in dignity, not in prison,” he said.
Derby-Lewis has served more than 20 years of a life sentence for providing a gun used by Polish immigrant Janusz Walus to kill SA Communist Party general secretary Chris Hani on April 10 1993.
Hani was shot in the head as he climbed out of his car outside his home in Boksburg, East Rand.
Pretoria high court judge Andre Louw yesterday ordered the medical parole advisory board to submit its recommendation on Derby-Lewis’s parole application to Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha by December 15.
Judge Louw made the agree- ment between both parties an order, stating that Masutha had until the end of January to make a decision.
Masutha’s lawyer, Graham Bester, slammed the application as premature and unnecessary. He said the medical parole advisory board should be given a proper opportunity to make a recommendation to the minister.
“[The board] is getting reports on Derby-Lewis’s health from independent specialists. The specialist examined Derby-Lewis on Monday. There is a good reason why the minister has not made any decision,” he said.
Hani’s widow, Limpho, and the SACP were allowed to join the proceedings as respondents.
The judge also ordered that Masutha consider their representations.
Hani’s widow, who was in court, refused to comment.
Her lawyer, Nkopane Thaanyane, said they wanted insight into Derby-Lewis’s medical records to make representations.