Correctional Services are checking whether prison gangs shot dead two off-duty Pollsmoor Prison warders.
|||Cape Town - Correctional Services is checking whether prison gangs shot dead two off-duty Pollsmoor Prison warders and wounded another in separate incidents last month.
The three are thought to have refused to smuggle contraband into prisons.
Eight other warders, in a year, have been fingered for smuggling.
This is after Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele said in his budget vote speech in Parliament on Wednesday that R5.8 billion had been allocated to deal with prison gangs.
Provincial regional commissioner Delekile Klaas said: “We are working closely with police to determine the circumstances around the shootings because they were both very dedicated and reliable (warders). We are aware gangs are approaching officials and trying to recruit them. Unfortunately, when they decline, their lives are in danger,” he said.
Ntsimelelo Lengesi was shot dead at Nyanga taxi rank on May 18 and Lulamile Tomsana was killed in his driveway in Nyanga on May 23.
Both were buried in separate funerals in the Eastern Cape on Saturday.
Another warder from Delft, who cannot be named to protect his identity, was shot and injured while off duty in Khayelitsha last month.
Klaas also said eight warders in the Western Cape had been arrested, suspected of smuggling illegal items into prisons. Some of the eight have already been suspended while others are still being investigated.
“Some have already been dismissed and the others are still under investigation by the police. But the high number of arrests means we are alert and it’s becoming easier to detect criminal activity.”
Klaas urged citizens not to assist in smuggling.
He said officials, especially those working with criminals should be vigilant at all times.
“There has been a recent pattern in the Western Cape where police, traffic officers and correctional services officials are being targeted by criminals. This is not right and needs to be stopped,” he said.
Several Pollsmoor inmates were injured when a battle broke out in January between rival gangs allegedly for the control of illegal items being smuggled into the prison.
barbara.maregele@inl.co.za
Cape Times