Johannesburg -
The correctional services department will probe claims that two of the so-called Waterkloof Four convicted murderers had a party with alcohol in a jail cell ahead of their release, the City Press newspaper reported on Sunday.
“The department regards the allegations of alcohol abuse in a prison cell in a very serious light,” department spokesman Manelisi Wolela told the newspaper.
“We will take action if we have the evidence and will then launch a full investigation.”
Wolela said alcohol and cellphones were not allowed in prisons. The City Press reported that it had received a copy of a video featuring Frikkie du Preez and Christoff Bekker allegedly drinking and using a cellphone in a prison cell in Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru prison.
“It's a nice weekend in jail here. We're having a great time... We managed to get a bottle of something,” the newspaper quoted Becker as saying on the video.
He is seen taking photos of himself with a cellphone while posing topless in front of a mirror.
A friend of Becker's, Francois Lubbe confirmed to the newspaper that Becker and Du Preez were drinking in the video.
“Someone gave them the alcohol in jail,” he said.
“Boys will be boys. Christoff and Frikkie don't really care about the video. It happened in jail and doesn't affect their parole conditions.”
On Tuesday, Bekker, Du Preez, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt were released on parole from prison. They were jailed for beating a homeless man to death in Pretoria in 2001. - Sapa