Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour has promised an independent inquiry into an escape attempt from the C-Max prison in Pretoria on Sunday in which two officials were killed.
Speaking at a memorial service on Thursday for the two men, Balfour also proposed periodic security checks of guards and electronic monitoring equipment.
Balfour said he was angry and promised to get to the bottom of the incident. He raged against corrupt prison staff and said that low morale and disillusionment could never be used as a justification for taking people’s lives.
C-Max prison head Sam Gomba and acting area coordinator, Dan Nditisa, were killed in Sunday’s escape attempt.
The two inmates, realising their bid for freedom was doomed, also took their own lives.
The department has not yet revealed how the prisoners obtained the firearm used in the attack.
Hundreds of people, including the widows and children of the two dead officials, attended the service at the Pretoria prison’s rugby grounds on Thursday. – Sapa