Committee Chairperson Ms Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng said the visit forms part of the committee’s constitutional mandate over the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). She said the committee will regularly conduct such physical oversight visits and then follow up on the commitments made by officials to address the challenges that were highlighted.

In its walkabout programme, the committee visited the centre’s clinic, baby-mother-housing unit, the section for juvenile remand detainees, female section, male section as well as the workshops for woodwork, steelwork, and textiles. Ms Ramolobeng said it was worthwhile to see what was theoretically presented to the committee in its practical version on the ground.

After its walkabout around the facility the committee received a briefing from the DCS on, among other things, structure and functions, challenges and successes, inmate population, management of overcrowding, healthcare services, and self-sufficiency.

The committee raised concerns over the high levels of overcrowding at the facility as well as delays in its maintenance. The remand detainees facility is 234% overcrowded, Medium A- section 146%, Medium B-Section 149%, Medium C-Section61% and the female section is 248% overcrowded.

At the remand detainee facility for juveniles, Ms Ramolobeng, encouraged the young detainees to change as life inside correctional centres is obviously uncomfortable and inconvenient. “When you are arrested you jettison your home comfortability and some rights and endure a direct opposite of that behind the prison doors. You may enjoy your limited human rights, but in an unfavourable correctional centre environment,” said Ms Ramalobeng.

Regarding the lack of maintenance of infrastructure at the centre, the committee has seen some dilapidated parts of the facility, damaged water infrastructure at certain areas, kitchen equipment not working and the bed space at the remand detainees that need urgent attention.

Ms Ramlobeng said the committee has resolved to have a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure to address the problem of maintenance at facilities as the challenge of maintenance is common at all the facilities that the committee has visited.

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The committee commenced its oversight at Kokstad Medium Correctional Centre and eBongweni Super Maximum Correctional Centre, which saw members conduct an inspection of facilities and engage with officials on critical operational issues. Committee Chairperson Ms. Kgomotso Ramolobeng stated the visits were vital in ensuring correctional centres are managed correctly and operating within the framework of the law.

“We are all at work to get clarity about what we are contracted to do as a committee and the Department of Correctional Services,” said Ramolobeng. “We are in the province to get assurance that the correctional facilities are run the way they should be run.”

During their visit to Kokstad Medium Correctional Centre, the committee raised serious concerns around the facility’s kitchen, which has been operating with a non-compliant certificate since 2020. Ramolobeng called for immediate action to rectify the issue and ensure food safety standards are met, stating, “the department should ensure that the Kokstad Medium Correctional Centre’s kitchen is compliant to meet the required food safety standards.”

At eBongweni Super Maximum Correctional Centre, the facility was commended for maintaining a contraband-free status and committee members urged other correctional centres to adopt similar measures to combat the ongoing smuggling of illegal goods.

A key issue raised by the committee was the delayed appointment of personnel for critical operational roles. Ramolobeng called for further immediate action to fill funded but vacant positions, emphasising the instability created by prolonged delay in appointments.

“We can’t continue to have people acting in critical operational positions indefinitely. Such critical posts must be filled with immediate effect, and the department must give us timeframes; we can’t make acting a normality,” she stated.

The Department of Correctional Services has been tasked with developing a turnaround strategy to address these outstanding concerns, including facility compliance, staffing shortages, and overall management inefficiencies.

The committee will continue its oversight programme , with the next visit scheduled to take place at Pietermaritzburg Med A and Med B correctional centres, with further assessments planned for the remainder of the week.

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