The Department of Correctional Services has dismissed media reports that convicted paralympian Oscar Pistorius would not be eligible for correctional supervision because an electronic monitoring device cannot be fitted to his ankle.

“The department rejects any notion that attempts to pre-empt any decision that will be taken with respect to the offender concerned, and that will have an impact on his rehabilitation,” spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said on Tuesday.

Wolela also called on journalists to refrain from what he described as irresponsible reporting, and to take care to report news truthfully, accurately and fairly.

According to the Correctional Services Regulations (Regulation 28), an electronic monitoring device must be compact, un-obstructive and allow persons under community corrections as far as possible to carry out their normal daily activities.

“The electronic monitoring device must be fitted to the ankle or wrist without causing a risk to the person’s health,” Wolela explained

Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for culpable homicide related to the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp – whom he shot dead through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home on February 14, last year.