URGENT PROBE AFTER PRISONERS ESCAPE

SAPS faces scrutiny as concerns mount over court security

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

NINE prisoners managed to escape from two courthouses holding cells in a matter of days, raising the question of systematic failures and criminal collusion within the SAPS.

Of the nine - three have yet to be apprehended and are on the run.

The question was raised by Nicholas Gotsell MP, DA NCOP Member on Security and Justice, who said the DA is calling for urgent accountability from the Western Cape police commissioner and minister of Correctional Services.

He also called for an independent investigation.

The South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) said corruption was ultimately behind the escape.

The office of National Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Pieter Groenewald, was also approached for comment regarding growing concerns about escapes from police custody, following the fatal stabbing of two inmates and the wounding of two officials at Pollsmoor Prison.

This raises the question of why audiovisual remand, via prisons to court, is not utilised more often.

Six prisoners escaped from the Wynberg Magistrates' Court a week ago, with two being apprehended soon afterwards and three more later in the week, namely Linda Soyeza, Mphumeleli Lufutha, and Tawfeeq Damo, after their photographs were circulated.