South Africa’s legal system makes provision for “unsentenced offenders” to be behind bars for a maximum of two years before their cases have to be heard in court a first time, but there are at least five detainees who have spent more than ten years behind bars while awaiting trial or sentencing as remand detainees (RDs).
African National Congress (ANC) National Assembly whip Mzwanele Sokopo was informed by Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald in reply to a parliamentary question that as of September 2024, there were 57 970 remand detainees in custody. A total of 3 167 remand detainees were granted bail as of 30 September.
Of the five detainees currently incarcerated who have to date, spent more than 10 years behind bars as RDs, four are in Eastern Cape with the fifth being detained in Limpopo. Detained periods for 21 156 RDs range from six months to the five held for over 10 years.
Explaining the high number of RDs nationally, Groenewald responded that, in part, it was “due to the high increase of arrests and delays within the Criminal Justice System, the numbers of unsentenced inmates is high”. Going further he noted the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has developed a tool to monitor the lengths of time RDs are behind bars and “actively engages the judiciary” in this regard.
Numbers-wise Gauteng has 230 RDs in the five to 20 year category with 58s in the three to five year category.
Gauteng leads remand detention facilities with 5 565 RDs in custody, with the Western Cape second, with 4 813 still in custody. This is followed by the Eastern Cape (3 000), Limpopo (2 612), KwaZulu-Natal (2 567) and Free State/Northern Cape (2 604). Mpumalanga and North West do not feature in the DCS numbers given to Sokopo.