Pistorius Parole: South Africa Women's Group Happy

Jacqui Mofokeng advised the Steenkamp family (Photo: Getty Images)

The group that petitioned South Africa's justice minister about Oscar Pistorious' parole says it is happy it managed to get his release delayed by two months and that it did not happen in August when women's month is marked.

The Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa, which includes the governing African National Congress Women's League, had said that would have been "an insult" to victims of abuse.

"We want to thank the justice minister for receiving our petition and realizing that there was something wrong with parole process," Jacqui Mofokeng, one of the group's leaders, told me.

BBC report continues:

She added that they were looking forward to state prosecutor's appeal of the manslaughter verdict next month where the activists, who have been supporting the Steenkamp family, hoped "the rule of law will be fully exercised".

Pistorius was cleared of murder at his trial last year and is serving a five-year sentence for culpable homicide. He says he mistook his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.

Pistorius Under House Arrest Until 20 October 2019

Some more details are coming out about the South African parole board's decision to release Oscar Pistorius, who was sentenced last year to five years for manslaughter after killing his girlfriend on Valentine's Day in 2013.

Pistorius says he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mistake (Photo: AP)

The convicted athlete will remain under house arrest from Tuesday 20 October 2015 until Sunday 20 October 2019, a spokesman from the country's Department of Correctional Services has explained.

During this time he will face firearm restrictions and will have to continue psychotherapy - as advised earlier this month by a judge led-review into the matter, Manelisi Wolela said.

The parole board's initial decision to release him in August was blocked by Justice Minister Michael Masutha, who said it had been made "prematurely", arguing that the law states that an offender can only be considered for parole after serving one-sixth of his sentence, in this case 10 months.

Pistorius will have served 12 months by Tuesday.

In response to today's decision, a spokesman for the justice minister told the BBC: "The minister's involvement ended when the matter was referred to the parole review board."