Last week the Sunday Times reported how a recording of a phone call made from a jail cell not only revealed the ruthless mind of killer Mzukisi Ndamase, but importantly, also stopped him from being released back into society.
Ndamase, 46, who is believed to have ordered the massacre of 18 family members in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape in September from inside Wellington Prison in Mthatha — because someone accused him of killing their child — was unrepentant to the point of being boastful about his role in ending lives.
And he made no qualms about killing others when he would be released on parole within a few weeks — after being jailed for murdering a police officer in 2007.
The call, uncovered by a police investigation into the massacre, may have ended his chance of freedom. It disturbingly puts in question the effectiveness of the prisons system in the rehabilitation of offenders.
While not an unequivocal right, most prisoners are offered conditional release to serve the remaining sentence in the community under the supervision and control of the department to foster rehabilitation and reintegration into society, subject to evaluation and monitoring.
But there lies the rub.
Earlier this month, correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald said South Africa’s high recidivism rate — at 40% to 80% it is one of the highest reoffending rates in the world — has forced him to prioritise the rehabilitation of inmates.
According to the department, the current inmate population is 156,070, which exceeds capacity by 49%. This leads to a lack of due diligence in overseeing an inmate’s genuine readiness for parole.
While contact crimes, including murder and rape, have dipped slightly according to second-quarter crime statistics released this week, the persistence of high crime rates underscores the urgency of doubling efforts to urgently reform the parole system.
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