Cape Town — New Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, has said that one of his first tasks will be to visit the infamous Mangaung Correctional Centre, from which convicted murderer and Facebook rapist, Thabo Bester, escaped.
Groenewald was sworn in as the new minister on Wednesday and will now shift his attention to addressing issues such as corruption and ensuring criminals are made to pay for their actions.
He revealed that his first order of business would be to get a briefing on private prisons and will pay a visit to the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, EWN reported.
“I said the first person, first facility I want to visit is [the] Thabo Bester facility, and I want to meet with the CEO of the private company as well.”
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Groenewald added that criminals no longer fear the police and said they have an 80% chance of getting away with crime. He wants to establish the strengths and weaknesses of the department to help address the issues at hand, The Citizen reported.
“In terms of strengths within the department, I believe that we have hard-working and honest employees who want to deliver a service to the public. I see honest employees as forming one of the strengths of the department – something I want to utilise to make it even stronger,” he said.
“Of course, the key weakness in the department is corruption. There is a wide range of corruption in correctional services, with the Thabo Bester incident being a good example of that. We will look at that matter and other issues,” he added.
Groenewald, who has advocated for the death penalty to be reinstated to curb crime, said he can only do what’s permitted by the Constitution.
“I said many times the problem with crime in South Africa is the impunity people get away with crime. Therefore, if we look at capital punishment, the Constitution prohibits it, so we will have to find other ways to ensure there is accountability.”
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
