A prisoner is taking Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour to court after an offer to reduce his sentence failed to materialise, the Sunday Times reported in its early edition.
Balfour allegedly offered Xolani Mahambehlala (34) — serving 18 years for car theft — a sentence remission after he filmed acts of corruption by prison warders in the Eastern and Western Cape.
Port Elizabeth lawyer Egon Oswald confirmed that his firm had lodged papers on behalf of Mahambehlala on Friday in the Pretoria High Court. He was taking Balfour to court in an effort to have his sentence reduced by at least two years under a provision in the Correctional Services Act that gives a parole board power to reduce a sentence.
This comes after Mahambehlala’s involvement in 2005 in sting operations at Malmesbury Prison in the Western Cape. He used a small camera provided by police to film warders smuggling drugs and contraband. Mahambehlala claimed Balfour praised his efforts, offered him a sentence remission of two years and gave him his cellphone number. He was then moved to Middeldrift Prison in the Eastern Cape and was again given a video camera to film corruption. Six warders were fired as a result of Mahambehlala’s actions.
Balfour told the Sunday Times: ”You are free to write what you want and I’ll reserve my right to respond”.
Inspecting Judge of Prisons Nathan Erasmus confirmed that the inspectorate was investigating Mahambehlala’s claims. – Sapa