Drakenstein Correctional Services (DCS) had a symbolic role in South Africa’s changes. In 1990, as Victor Verster Prison, it was from there that late former President Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years behind bars, with a view to unifying a divided nation.
But today, in 2024, this historic prison, now the Drakenstein Correctional Services (DCS), has become the antithesis of this dream under Ntomboxolo Kungune, its current head.
A complaint letter by several anonymous prison wardens over Kungune’s alleged misconduct was written to Ronald Lamola, Minister of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
This letter, received by Paarl Post on 18 January, highlights abuse of power, malfeasance and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Administrative complaints
Among the alleged abuses they relate is taking “competent officials out of their positions if they do not toe her line or agree with her” (page 4), replacing them with “junior officials […] who do not question or challenge her.”
On page 3 it alleges she “suspended double the figure of officials the management area has suspended in the last five years.”
Page 4 of the wardens’ letter claim a prisoner was found with an electronic device belonging to a warden of the Medium A section. The warden was never reprimanded as he was Kungune’s “darling”, suggesting the two were romantically involved.
“She always describes transgressions committed by those close to her as mistakes and or errors, while mistakes committed by [other officials] are dealt with seriously,” the letter claims.
“She is inconsistent in handling officials.”
Housing complaints
Page 8 further claimed Kungune “disbanded the housing committee [for allocating houses within prison precincts] and collapsed the waiting list, doing away with the criteria in force when she got here.
“She now personally allocates houses to those she likes, officials with no parental or family responsibilities, which goes against traditional criteria. The letter goes on to relate how she had evicted families from certain state houses, one example being where “a wife remains with her children within the prison precincts while her husband is forced to rent accommodation elsewhere, having been banned from staying on prison premises owing to “alleged criminal activity”.
According to an anonymous source Kungune has made changes to her departmental house within prison precincts without approval from the Department of Public Works, which paid for the renovations.
“The thing is, she doesn’t even live in the house, and the house is currently empty,” the source said.
“Her modus operandi is ‘I am in charge, and nobody dares to question me, and if they do, I will teach them a lesson’”.
The abattoir
Another concern is that the abattoir on the grounds of Drakenstein Correctional Services, which supplies pork and chicken to all the prisons in South Africa has been drowning in mismanagement.
Page 12 states officials “experienced” in slaughtering pigs and chickens had been replaced by inexperienced individuals, which meant the abattoir could not keep up with the slaughtering schedule.
“Chickens that are supposed to be slaughtered at 36 to 38 days are now slaughtered, on average, every 120 days, and this has the implications for using more feed [to keep the animals alive], costing the department more money.”
“The production cost for poultry meat has in this time gone up from R25 per kg to more than R65 per kg, and chicken that would normally weigh 1,2-1,8 kg now weighs between 5 kg and 6,5 kg.”
According to the letter pigs are currently “as big as cows” and chickens “as big as turkeys”.
Currently the DCS is behind with more than three slaughtering cycles, which costs the taxpayer more than R10 million.
Response
After Delekile Klaas, the DCS’s Western Cape Commissioner received these complaints over WhatsApp he “called a meeting with the prison’s executive committee and, rather than to support them, chastised them for not supporting Kungune.”
Paarl Post reached out to the DCS on 19 January, but had not received any response at the time of publication.
