Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
Sixteen correctional services officials employed at the Thohoyandou Central prison near Pietersburg, Northern Province, were last week found guilty of participating in a moneylending racket inside the prison.
The warders borrowed hundreds of rands from inmates, who were running loan schemes in the prison.
The scheme is believed to have started in 1999 but other officials say it could have been in operation for five years.
Prison sources say warders went to inmates-turned-moneylenders almost every month to put food on the table. Warders borrowed a couple of hundred rands but “were forced to repay ridiculous amounts”.
Thohoyandou Central prison manager Kenny Bouwer said about 20 warders were initially alleged to have been involved in the loan scheme but only 16 were found guilty.
The warders will face dismissal if they are caught again. They have been served with warning letters.
“We have told them that if they are found to be doing the same thing again they will be dismissed. We cannot allow that, we don’t tolerate corruption in this prison,” Bouwer said.
He said the warders have been asked to repay the money they owed the prisoners and have been shifted to other positions in the prison so that they do not make contact with the loan shark prisoners.
Prison officials say some of the warders were caught in a nasty circle of borrowing money from prisoners to repay money to other creditors. In some cases the prisoners were charging the warders more than 300% interest over a period of six months.
One of the accused warders borrowed R500 from prisoners and struggled to repay R3000 interest.
“This is ridiculous. How can someone borrow R500 and be expected to pay back R3 500?” Bouwer asked.
He said the Department of Correctional Services’s anti-corruption unit started to investigate moneylending at his prison after some prisoners blew the whistle on the activities.
Bouwer said prisoners complained that warders had failed to pay back their money.
Bouwer said loan shark schemes in prison can promote corruption and create undue pressure on the warders. Prisoners often ask warders if they can help them escape for a fee.
The prison management is also preparing charges against loan shark prisoners. About six have been identified and the charges will include violating regulations governing the prison and microlending industry.
Bouwer said the moneylending business inside prison was complex. Prisoners are allowed to have R150 at a time and it had yet to be ascertained where they got the large amounts of money to lend to the warders.
“Maybe they just collected the money among themselves, maybe they smuggled it inside the prison. We don’t know. But we do know that there are prisoners who are rich in prison. Not all prisoners are poor, so many of them are very rich and they have the money,” Bouwer said.