Warders at the medium-security prison and the C-Max prison in Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as warders at St Alban’s prison outside Port Elizabeth, have embarked on a strike, SABC Radio News reported on Saturday.
The warders were reportedly demonstrating outside the prisons.
They were protesting against the scrapping of their overtime allowance by the Department of Correctional Services, among other things.
Bongani Gxilishe, the acting head of Eastern Cape department of correctional services, said the strike, led by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, was illegal.
Meanwhile, 27 warders at Barberton prison in Mpumalanga were dismissed on Saturday after they reportedly defied a court order to stay 100m away from the prison.
National correctional services spokesperson Themba Goloshe said the warders will also be criminally charged with the violation of the Correctional Services Act.
Last weekend, more than 100 warders were evicted from the prison premises following an illegal strike that began about three months ago over a reduction in overtime pay. — Sapa