State unsure about disciplinary

Gauteng correctional services commissioner Zacharia Modise. Picture Kim Ludbrook.

Gauteng correctional services commissioner Zacharia Modise. Picture Kim Ludbrook.

Published May 11, 2014

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Johannesburg - The correctional services department on Sunday had no update on the progress of disciplinary action against four prison warders who allegedly allowed two of the so-called Waterkloof four to break prison rules.

Gauteng correctional services commissioner Zacharia Modise said he was only aware of the original decision about the warders' fate.

“The investigation was concluded and the decision was that there must be action taken against the officials... a disciplinary enquiry.”

He said he would be able to update the media on Monday about what subsequently happened.

According to Sunday's Rapport newspaper disciplinary hearings for the four warders at the Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria were never held and they still had their jobs.

On February 16, convicted killers Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez were re-arrested after a cellphone video surfaced of them drinking what appeared to be alcohol and using a cellphone in their cell at the Pretoria prison.

In March, correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said the four prison guards would be attending disciplinary hearings within a month to probe their roles in the incident.

In February, Becker and Du Preez, along with Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt, were released after being jailed for beating a homeless man to death in Pretoria in 2001.

About six weeks after Becker was rearrested, he was transferred to the Kokstad maximum security prison in KwaZulu-Natal after being found with a cellphone in his cell. - Sapa

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