Johannesburg - One of South Africa’s best kept secrets is out: the notorious Pretoria-based C-Max (Closed Maximum Security Unit) prison facility developed for the most difficult, dangerous and unruly inmates in our prison system has been closed and unoccupied for the past five years.
C-Max, which housed murderers, rapists, violent criminals, former escapees and gang leaders, was apparently undergoing major upgrades to the tune of R173 million on its integrated security system, including pneumatic sliding doors, closed circuit television and detection and alarm systems, when the contractor, Vusela Construction, ran into financial difficulties in 2010. Vusela has since been liquidated.
The status of C-Max was confirmed by Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise during a wide-ranging interview in Pretoria on Thursday. He said the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has since engaged the Department of Public Works (DPW) to fund and complete the project during the current financial year.
As the DCS is faced with the task of reducing overcrowding in its correctional facilities, the DPW has come under fire for other construction hiccups at three other centres. Besides the upgrades to C-Max, DPW-appointed contractors have also failed to complete renovations to the Tzaneen Correctional Centre (R257 million), and construction work at the Vanrhynsdorp and Ceres centres for R355 million and R290 million respectively.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has noted that work on the four prisons was “still incomplete, years after the set completion dates… The contracts for the construction of two prisons and the renovation of two were awarded to companies that lacked the financial capacity to complete them.”
Some of C-Max’s notable inmates, who have since been transferred to other super-maximum correctional centres, include 12-time killer Sylvester Mofokeng, who is serving a 145- year prison sentence plus 10 life sentences; Moses “ABC Killer” Sithole, serving 2 410 years for 38 murders and the rape of 40 women; Sipho “The Phoenix Killer” Thwala, who was convicted in 1999 for the murders of 16 women and 10 rapes and sentenced to 506 years in prison; Annanias “The Houdini of C-Max” Mathe, who had been detained on more than 50 charges, including murder, rape, armed robbery and hijacking, and became the first person in November 2006 to escape from C-Max; and former Vlakplaas commander Eugene “Prime Evil” de Kock, who was sentenced to 212 years in jail for his part in crimes against humanity in 1996.
C-Max became notorious for its tiny 3x3m concrete and wire cages and its solitary confinement regime of 23 hours a day. Prisoners were only allowed 30 minutes of exercise time outside their cells twice a day.
While C-Max could accommodate up to 100 inmates, the new Tzaneen facility will host about 500 inmates, along with workshops to empower them with skills such as welding and panelbeating. Modise’s department also plans to expand its electronic monitoring system, which will see at least 13 000 parolees and those awaiting trial wearing a bracelet fitted with a GPS device that tracks them 24/7.
“The department is also looking at other ways to reduce overcrowding and expenditure on inmates by moving elderly inmates and women to halfway houses instead of keeping them behind bars at correctional centres. Halfway houses are here to stay. While they are currently being used to ensure proper support for ex-offenders before they are reintegrated into society, we are looking at the possibility of acquiring more, and placing the elderly and women in them,” said Modise.
He acknowledged that there was still corruption in our prisons.
“I’m aware that some of the officials are involved in smuggling contraband goods, cellphones and other stuff into the facilities, and that they are also borrowing money from inmates – and even having intimate relationships with them. We are in the process of cleaning up the rot.”
The Sunday Independent