Correctional Services is reviewing the parole of former Cape Town top cop Marius van der Westhuizen, who was jailed for shooting his children in 2006. They were 21 months, five years and 16 years old. Van der Westhuizen was due for release next week after serving 13 years of his 24-year sentence. The department granted him parole last month despite his former wife Charlotte’s objections that she fears for her […]
New Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said that a review of the parole system would be completed this year, in response to public outcry. He's appealed for broad support in improving the country’s prisons, saying that he alone can’t fix the myriad problems. An MP for more than two decades, Groenewald on Monday made his maiden speech as a minister in Parliament during debate on the R87 billion budget of […]
The Presidency says it has so far secured 320 megawatts of electricity to enable it to start removing government departments from the national grid. It says very soon departments from all three tiers of government will be off the national grid to lessen the burden on the struggling power utility, Eskom. Addressing the media at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday, the Head of Infrastructure, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, said the […]
LOCAL The Correctional Services Department says it is investigating an incident in which an inmate stabbed convicted murderer, Janusz Walus at the Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria. The department says Walus, who was wounded and admitted to the prison hospital, is in stable condition. The stabbing comes just days after the Constitutional Court ruled that Walus be released on parole by Friday. The Apex Court ruled that Justice Minister Ronald […]
Statistics show that the official number of coronavirus cases in the South African prison system is fairly low, however the system has been warned of a looming disaster should infections begin to spread among the incarcerated. According to figures provided by spokesperson for the Correctional Services Department Singabakho Nxumalo, the Western Cape had 49 confirmed cases of officials and three of inmates, with one death under investigation. “There’s been a […]
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, says his department is already instituting a full review of the parole system in the country. This follows national outrage after the murder of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk who was allegedly killed by a neighbour who was out on parole. The suspect was released on parole in 2018. The man absconded from parole a year before Van Wyk went missing near her […]
Three Pollsmoor prisoners have been re-arrested, while a manhunt continues for three other inmates who were escaped from the correctional facility on Sunday night. The six youth offenders escaped from the B4 section of the prison, after using their bed posts to break their cell's burglar bars. Three of the offenders, aged between 21 and 25, are believed to be on the run and could still be in Western Cape. […]
Some progress has been made in reducing overcrowding at Pollsmoor’s awaiting trial facility but there is much more to be done, says Sonke Gender Justice in a response to the Department of Correctional Services’ action plan on problems at the prison. The action plan was ordered by the Western Cape High Court after Sonke, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, took the government and the head of Pollsmoor’s remand facility […]
By Melanie Sauer The inmates of the Pollsmoor Correctional Centre have seen a turnaround of the previously “unlawful” living conditions, in just a matter of months. But upon VOC News inspection of the prison yesterday, it is clear the Department of Justice and Correctional Services has a long way to go to implement these improvements, as ordered by the Western Cape High Court in June 2016. The Acting Minister of […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
