Review of parole system moving at a snail’s pace

• Published date: 04 November 2022
• Publication title: Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Commissioned review moving at a snail’s pace

More than two years after justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola called for the review of the parole system, little has happened.

Lamola this week told Sowetan that the review process had started in April this year and was in its preliminary stages. He could not say by when the review process findings and outcomes could be expected.

In March 2020, Lamola called an urgent meeting with the correctional services department and the parole board to address the effectiveness of the parole system.

This was a few days after two parolees were arrested in separate cases for the killing and raping of minors in the Western Cape.

Lamola made the call after Tazne van Wyk, 8, was kidnapped and murdered, allegedly by a 54-year-old man who was out on parole.

The man has not been named to protect the identities of some of his relatives who he also allegedly sexually assaulted.

Speaking on the SABC in February 2020, Lamola said: “We sympathise with the outrage from the community and it is worrying us because it affects the system of rehabilitation.

“It does show from our system that there are some systematic weaknesses, particularly in the province of the Western Cape.

“Throughout the country, there is some stability in terms of the system and we are in the process of review.

“But if you can look into the whole system, there is a huge number also that is contributing positively to society.

“The lapse in the system is that we need to professionalise the board processes in terms of the people who help us to make the decisions.”

Lamola has repeated the same concerns and added that he had approached the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation to address the lingering problem of parolees being released only to return to the life of crime shortly thereafter.

Lamola was speaking in the backdrop of the gender-based violence presidential summit in Midrand this week, looking at recent cases of killers of women and children having been released on parole.

These include Collen Hlongwane, who had been charged with Bontle Mashiyane’s murder. Hlongwane was previously released twice on parole – for attempted murder he committed in 2008 and a 2013 murder.

Ntokozo Zikhali, 30, who is accused of the rape and murder of Bokgabo Poo, 4, last month was out on bail for another rape when he killed the girl.

Also in October, Bosman...