Parole board to consider 'meritorious service' of jailed John Block: report

Former Northern Cape ANC provincial chairperson John Block could be free within 21 days, Sunday World reported on Friday.

The Kimberley high court on Friday overturned a decision by the Upington correctional supervision and parole board to deny Block parole after serving a portion of his 15-year sentence for corruption, according to the report.

The court has ordered that the parole board consider Block’s application “for a special remission sentence for highly meritorious service”.

Block was jailed in 2018 for corruption linked an office lease scandal involving inflated prices.

Earlier this year he was also charged with alleged tender fraud related to the Kimberley Mental Health Hospital, built at a massive cost of R2.1bn — more than seven times more than the original project budget of R290m.

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