Wally Mbhele
The head of a KwaZulu-Natal prison who was recently suspended after his alleged involvement in the death of a prisoner is back at work.
Minister of Correctional Services Sipho Mzimela promised an inquiry into the actions of Sipho Dlamini, head of the Ingwavuma prison. Prisoners claim they were not informed that the inquiry had been constituted, who was heading it or who was asked to give evidence. Prisoners who made the allegations against Dlamini said they were not approached.
The Mail & Guardian reported in May that Dlamini was linked to the death of a prisoner, Mduduzi Ntembe. Mzimela and the chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services, Limpho Hani, made an unannounced visit to the prison, after which Dlamini was suspended.
They ordered an investigation into Ntembe’s death and other allegations against Dlamini, including that he ran a business inside the prison.
“The [preliminary] findings were that, although it seems Dlamini was assaulting prisoners, there is no concrete evidence he is directly linked to Ntembe’s death,” said Mzimela’s representative, Bert Slabbert, in May.
Prisoners told the South African Prisoners Human Rights Organisation (Saphor) that on May 18 they saw Dlamini kick and whip Ntembe with what looked like a sjambok.
Saphor said Ntembe was rushed to hospital, where he was treated and discharged on the same day. A day later he complained of stomach pains. His pleas for medical attention drew a hostile response from Dlamini.
According to Saphor, it was only the next day, after Ntembe had lain motionless in his cell throughout the night, that Dlamini ordered that he be taken to hospital, where he was certified dead on arrival. It later emerged that Dlamini had apparently misled his superiors when he claimed Ntembe died at the hospital.
Local police who were asked to investigate possible charges of culpable homicide against Dlamini apparently did not even start the investigation as they feared Dlamini.
At the time of going to press, Slabbert could not comment, saying Mzimela was taking the matter up with correctional services National Commissioner Khulekani Sithole.