The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services had called on the Department of Correctional Services to ensure maintenance is continued once it takes successfully the running of the private prisons.
The departmental delegation which was led by Minister, Dr Pieter Groenewald, assured the committee that it was ready to take over the Mangaung Correctional Facility and Kutama Correctional Facility when it briefed the committee on plans and the work done to take over the running of the correctional centres. Manguang became infamous following the escape of the famous offender Thabo Bester a couple of years back.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Kgomotso Ramoboleng, said the take-over should not result in inefficiencies and budget mismanagement. “It would be ideal if the take-over results in cost savings for the department. The take-over would be seamless if there is cooperation especially with regards to Mangaung, which is run by a consortium on whose behalf G4S manages the centre,” said Ms Ramolobeng.
She added: “We wanted the Department to come out clearly on the plans to mitigate risk, and maintenance. There better be no regression at those two well run facilities, and as the committee we implore the department to keep those standards.”
The committee also requested a thorough briefing early in 2026 regarding all investigations that concern unnatural deaths of inmates, as well as erroneous release of inmates.
Africa Fact: On the 1 March 1979, the New York Times carried an article on its front page also page sixteen that was entitled Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In this article we were assured that: “Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia” (i.e. the territory of the northern Sudan and the southern portion of modern Egypt.)
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Fun South African Fact: South Africa is home to the world’s longest wine route: Route 62. It spans an impressive 850 kilometres and the excellent wineries along the way are a must-visit for lovers of fine wine! You can even enjoy the winelands on a day trip from Cape Town. Travel 40-min to an hour outside of the city centre to enjoy decadent wine tastings and even wander through some of the beautiful wine farms and estates! Suburbs like Durbanville and Constantia are even closer to the city centre and are also home to many exceptional wineries.
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Fun South African Fact: South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation” thanks to its mix of cultures across the country. The status of being a cultural “melting pot” is evident in the fact that South Africa has a whopping 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. Most South Africans speak more than one national language. IsiZulu is the most common first language and isiXhosa is second. Fun fact – did you know the people of Wakanda speak isiXhosa in Marvel’s Black Panther movie?