Durban - Inmate Sphamandla Njilo, succumbed to injuries and died on Monday after allegedly being brutally assaulted by prison warders in the correctional services facilities at Glencoe Prison in KwaZulu-Natal.
An eyewitness who is also an inmate, claimed to have helplessly watched as the warders manhandled Njilo at an office within the facility and dragged him back to the cell after the horrific beating.
Speaking to the Daily News, the eyewitness alleges that warders started taking pictures of a dying Njilo immediately after dumping him back in his cell to cover up and make it look like it was the prisoners that were involved in the fight and killed Njilo.
"They dragged his body back into the cell and started taking his pictures to make it look like it was a brawl between prisoners. They did so to cover up for their involvement,“ said the eyewitness.
The inmate alleged that the prison was then placed on a total shutdown as prison officials spoke and threatened inmates not to breathe a word about what had occurred at the hospital. After the coaching of inmates, it is alleged that the prison officials called the Njilo family informing them of the passing of their son.
According to a man only known as Tao, the spokesperson of the Njilo family, said that a distressed inmate (eyewitness) made a call to the family informing them of the horrific incident. He also added that inmates were intimidated and instructed not to tell anyone otherwise they would be dealt with and transferred to another prison facility.
"The family was contacted by an inmate who was present when they beat Sphamandla to death. He explained how the warders beat Sphamandla until he died. We were also informed that they threatened to transfer anyone who dares to say anything to either the family nor investigators" said Tao.
Tao added that the prison officials have called the wife of the deceased to go identify the body of her murdered husband.
In 2017, correctional services officers at Qalakabusha Prison in KwaZulu-Natal, beat and murdered Ayanda Nasanda to death. Nasanda's body was only removed 24 hours later after the incident.
In 2013, an inmate at the Groenpunt prison in the Free State died of his injuries after being subdued by warders. In the same year, Daveyton police in Gauteng dragged Mozambican Mido Macia to his death behind their van.
This is a developing story.
Daily News