By Timeslive | 2018-03-20

JOHANNESBURG - Nine government officials have been arrested for allegedly illegally releasing 36 female parolees over a period of more than a year.

This was announced by the police‚ the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Correctional Services in Pretoria yesterday.

“The foreign parolees‚ most of whom were drug smugglers or drug mules‚ had to be released and deported to their country of origin through Lindela deportation centre. Instead they were sent directly to the Johannesburg Department of Home Affairs regional office for an unprocedural and illegal early release‚” they said in a joint statement.

Family or friends of the parolees allegedly paid bribes into the bank accounts of home affairs or Correctional Services officials.

“At times‚ the officials would demand bribes of the amount of R3 000 for those from African countries and R6 000 for those from outside Africa.”

Correctional Services officials also allegedly falsified documents which enabled home affairs officials to allegedly create false release documents to help inmates flee from or remain in South Africa.

“The minister of home affairs has directed the department to review the internal control measures as well as the delegation of powers.”

Some of the parolees have since left South Africa‚ but six have been rearrested.

They include three Guyana nationals arrested for drug-related offences‚ one Zambian imprisoned for drugs and two Zimbabweans for theft.

“It emerged that these six had no intention of leaving South Africa.”

The other illegally released parolees included women from Congo‚ Nigeria‚ Ghana‚ Mozambique and Lesotho.

The police’s crime intelligence started investigating the alleged corruption in mid-2016.

The nine government officials were arrested during a raid last Friday morning. One suspect remains at large and another died in a car crash last month. The nine were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Locally, the state prosecutors are locked in a legal battle with businessman Sipho Shongwe on whether or not he was released on parole from Barberton Maximum Prison. Shongwe insists that he was granted parole while the state is adamant he escaped.

Shongwe is facing a murder charge relating to the public assassination of businessman Victor Gamedze on January 14 at Galp Filling Station at Ezulwini. Shongwe is currently fighting for bail that the state is opposing citing, among other things, that the accused is a flight risk and could skip trial.

They back this claim with documents that suggests Shongwe escaped from the South African jail after he was convicted for a string of charges that included murder, attempted murder and robbery. Deputy Director of the Barberton Maximum Prison Noah Seshason Nkosi in his supporting papers of the state’s case stated that to his knowledge, Shongwe was never granted parole and if anything he should have been considered for such in 2021.

The state is expected to submit a witness from Barberton Maximum Prison tomorrow to substantiate the statement.

Shongwe’s bail application hearing has been pending at the High Court for sometime now. The matter is before Judge Sipho Nkosi.

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