On Friday, the Department of Correctional Services said the parole board considered John Block's "meritorious service," including obtaining a Diploma in Business Management since his 15-year sentencing for corruption and money laundering in 2016. 

The department added that Block, 55, was among the inmates who benefitted from the Special Remission of Sentences of 2019, 2020, and 2023, which brought forward his detention period to 13 September 2023.

Block had been out on R50 000 bail in a separate R51-million tender fraud case.