Cape Town - Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Phathekile Holomisa, said relationships between prison officials and inmates are embarrassing.
He told the portfolio committee on justice that these incidents damage the reputation of the department: “One incident is one too many.”
Going into detail, Chief Deputy Commissioner for human resources, Cynthia Ramulifho, said although incidents of sexual activities between officials and inmates seldom occur in the the department’s workplace, they are regarded as despicable and unfortunate.
“These acts of misconduct defeat the mandate of the department and put the name of the department into disrepute. Drastic actions have been taken in the past by the department to deal with the parties involved in the incidents, however we still experience such occurrences,” said Ramulifo.
Four cases have been reported to the department, with two finalised and the other two pending.
A video of a woman prison warden engaging in sexual activity with an offender at Ncome Correctional Facility in KwaZulu-Natal did the rounds on social media. She was dismissed last month. Holomisa said a second official who allowed the two to use her office for their activity was also dismissed.
“Suffice to say, in KZN, two correctional officials were dismissed – the one in the video and the other who had allowed the two to use her office. The inmate is serving a life sentence and has lost his privileges."
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Political Bureau