The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services raised concerns over protocol compliance at Nelspruit Correctional Centre during an oversight visit in Mpumalanga, citing relaxed conduct by some officials.
Image: File: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services has raised concerns over what it described as a relaxed approach to protocol compliance at Nelspruit Correctional Centre in Mpumalanga, following an oversight visit to the facility.
The committee began its week-long oversight programme in Mpumalanga at Nelspruit Correctional Centre, where members conducted a walkabout to assess whether conditions on the ground align with information previously presented to Parliament.
During the visit, members inspected several areas of the facility, including the kitchen, medical unit, remand detainee section, female and male sentenced offender sections, staff accommodation, and the educational facility.
Committee Chairperson Kgomotso Ramolobeng said the committee observed concerning conduct by some officials during the visit.
She said officials were seen standing and looking at their cellphones, while others were drinking coffee in corridors and eating at times when they were expected to be opening sections for oversight.
“We are very observant. This facility is too relaxed to be a correctional facility,” said Ramolobeng.
She added that some officials appeared confused when reprimanded, while an offender was also seen moving around without an escort.
Ramolobeng said the facility was generally clean but highly dilapidated.
She noted, “paint peeling off walls, leaking roofs and, in one kitchen, a section of the roof that had been blown off by the wind.”
She added that the damaged section had been repaired using offender labour, which the committee said it continues to encourage where appropriate.
Ramolobeng also raised concern over the number of inmates classified as state patients in both the male and female sections, who are awaiting placement by the Department of Health in appropriate health facilities for treatment.
She said, “We will write a report to the Department of Health to expedite the matter relating to Nelspruit and the number of state patients, particularly in light of the current set-up that we have observed.”
The committee further highlighted concerns about staffing at the facility, noting that there are approximately 19 vacant posts and a number of officials serving in an acting capacity.
Ramolobeng said, “Filling of these vacancies should be expedited as most of them are funded posts.”
She also raised concern over officials placed on precautionary suspension or transferred pending investigations, including six officials alleged to have attempted to bring contraband into the facility.
She said the committee has consistently emphasised that criminal cases must be opened where officials are alleged to be involved in smuggling contraband.
Ramolobeng added that the committee has resolved to intensify physical oversight visits to correctional facilities across the country during the current parliamentary term.
She said visits have already been conducted in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, parts of the Western Cape, and Limpopo provinces.
The oversight programme will continue with visits to the Barberton Maximum Correctional Centre and the Barberton Youth Correctional Centre.
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