Warden nabbed for role in prison smuggling
It takes guts and a person with a strong personality who refuses to stray from his or her morals to be a warden, said a warden from the Polokwane correctional centre.
POLOKWANE – It takes guts and a person with a strong personality who refuses to stray from his or her morals to be a warden, said a warden from the Polokwane correctional centre.
This observation was made after a warden, who had been working for the department of correctional services for more than 20 years, was arrested for smuggling marijuana into the correctional centre on Thursday, August 7.
Kenneth Mthombeni, area commissioner for the department, said such behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
“Our work is to rehabilitate offenders, and to rehabilitate them, we need certain characteristics because our behaviour also contributes to their rehabilitation. Offenders learn through observation and our influence must help their rehabilitation. If offenders corrupt us, then the wheels will come off and the correctional centre cannot stay together,” Mthombeni said.
He added that the general problems faced at the Polokwane correctional centre included officials buying food for offenders and officials smuggling in marijuana and cell phones to offenders.
“This is a problem and that is why we established a special operations tracing team to investigate these matters. We have been tracing the official who was arrested for some time now, but were never able to catch him in the act until last week.
“About a month ago, we caught an offender with dagga. He agreed to cooperate and help us catch the official,” Mthombeni said.
He said the offender worked in the shop at the centre, which had a storeroom. The offender was given money to ask the warden to bring him some marijuana.
“At about 04:00 last Thursday, we had two of our members from the special operations tracing team hiding in the storeroom waiting for the warden to make his appearance. After monitoring the area for two hours and thinking the coast was clear, he came to the shop at about 06:00, not knowing that there were already two officers in the storeroom.
“He came to tell the offender where he had left the dagga. The officials communicated the information to management via radio, but we explained that the dagga needed to be in his possession for there to be a case. So the offender was told to ask the warden to bring the dagga to him. The warden did so, and he was then arrested,” Mthombeni described.
The police were called and the warden was arrested for possession of marijuana.
According to Mthombeni, the warden gave his cooperation after he was caught. He appeared before the Polokwane magistrate’s court the next day and was released on bail.
“He was suspended from duty and a departmental case was opened against him as well. Our investigations continue and he will appear before a disciplinary hearing as soon as our investigations are done,” Mthombeni said.
He added that this must be a warning for other officials who were corrupt. “Let us be true to our calling as correctional officials and make our contribution towards making South Africa safe. This demands that we be true public servants, who are consistent in the rehabilitation of offenders.
“If you are on the wrong side, do not wait to be caught, take your bags and go now. Just remember, offenders are not your friends. They smuggle with you, but are quick to sell you out, because they have nothing to lose,” Mthombeni warned.
