Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was reportedly spotted playing golf in Durban on Wednesday ? seven months after his release from prison on medical parole.

"If this is true, then it further undermines the criminal justice system in the eyes of South Africans," said the DA's shadow minister of correctional services, James Selfe.

"There is now no doubt that Shaik was indeed released for political reasons and not on medical grounds. The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be taking this matter up at the highest level."

When Shaik was spotted by a DA councillor driving around Durban in August, Correctional Services spokesperson Thami Zondi said: "As a department, we cannot force one to die, if one does not break the parole conditions then there is nothing we can do."

According to Zondi, Shaik is allowed free time between 11am and 4pm on weekends and public holidays.

The DA believes that if Shaik was indeed playing golf on that day, he was in violation of his parole conditions.

"Throughout this saga, the ANC government has made an absolute farce of Shaik's sentence and has made a mockery of the criminal justice system," said Selfe.