More prison workers could be fired following threats of legal action by the South African Prisoners Human Rights Organisation (Sapohr), National Correctional Services Commissioner Linda Mti warned on Thursday.
Sapohr has served papers on the Department of Correctional Services after the dismissal of prison staff in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
”I don’t understand the interest of the media in this case anyway. I’m the National Commissioner of Correctional Services. Do you want to listen to me or to Sapohr propaganda,” barked Mti, when questioned about the situation.
”We’ll dismiss more if they go on strike” he said.
Sapohr spokesperson Derek Mdluli said the dismissal of 35 staff members at Encome prison at Vryheid had ”immensely compromised the safety of prisoners”.
He said two stabbing incidents among inmates at Encome last weekend left one man in a critical condition in hospital and another in a serious but stable condition.
The dismissals followed national strike action by members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) which Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour has declared illegal.
Mti said: ”We don’t get incited by organisations which are not part of government.”
He said there was no shortage of personnel because police officers were deployed at prisons where Popcru members had been fired.
Mdluli said Sapohr did not support the union or the department but was only concerned about the safety of prisoners.
The organisation’s lawyer, Vassist Sewpal, proposed that the posts of suspended personnel be filled on a temporary of permanent basis to restore the status quo at Encome. – Sapa