Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour on Monday apologised for a scathing attack on Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services.
”The minister apologised and said that he had not given any sanction to the [correctional services] spokesperson, Mr [Luphumzo] Kebeni, for this personal and general attack on myself and the committee,” said its chairperson, Dennis Bloem.
Balfour wrote that he never sanctioned Kebeni to issue ”that type of statement”. He added that future press releases would be subject to strict controls. Kebeni was also ”strongly reprimanded”, said Bloem of Balfour’s letter.
Kebeni issued a statement in reaction to the committee unanimously rejecting, on March 6, a report on Annanias Mathe’s escape from Pretoria’s C-Max prison. It labelled MPs as weak political leaders lacking sound judgement. It said the report’s rejection reflected ”poor judgement” and ”weak political
leadership”.
Bloem declined to express his personal opinion on the letter. He would hand copies to the committee next week, when it would issue a collective response to it.
The committee said the task team that compiled the report had failed to explain the mystery surrounding Mathe’s escape. The team, made up of investigators from correctional services, the National Intelligence Agency and the police, could not find evidence suggesting that Mathe was actively assisted by prison officials during his escape last year.
Bloem said the committee would decided next week what steps to take following its rejection of the report. — Sapa