Parliament, Tuesday, 28 April 2026 – The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services kick started its week-long oversight visit in Mpumalanga Province at Nelspruit Correctional Centre, where it expressed serious concerns over what it described as a laid-back attitude displayed by officials regarding adherence to protocols.
The committee started its programme at the centre by a walkabout around the facility to gain first-hand insight into whether conditions on the ground align with the presentations it normally receives. Members of the committee visited the kitchen, medical unit, remand detainee section, female section, male sentenced offenders’ section, staff accommodation and the educational facility.
Committee Chairperson, Ms Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng, said the committee observed some officials standing and watching their cellphones, some drinking coffee in corridors and others eating when they were supposed to be opening sections for the committee. She added that some officials appeared confused when reprimanded, while an offender was seen moving around without an escort. “We are very observant. This facility is too relaxed to be a correctional facility,” said Ms Ramolobeng.
Regarding the state of the facility itself, Ms Ramolobeng said it was generally clean, but highly dilapidated. “We observed paint peeling off walls, leaking roofs and, in one kitchen, a section of the roof that had been blown off by the wind. The latter was repaired using offender labour, and we continue to encourage the department to utilise offender labour wherever possible,” she said.
Ms Ramolobeng noted the high number of inmates declared as state patients in both the male and female sections, who are awaiting placement by the Department of Health in appropriate health facilities for treatment. “We will write a report to the Department of Health to expedite the matter relating to Nelspruit and the number of state patients, particularly in light of the current set-up that we have observed,” she said.
She also raised concern about the number of management officials serving in acting capacity, noting that there are approximately 19 vacant positions at the facility.
“Filling of these vacancies should to be expedited as most of them are funded posts. We are also concerned about the number of officials placed on precautionary suspension or transferred pending investigations. Among them are six officials alleged to have attempted to bring contraband into the facility,” said Ms Ramalobeng.
She said the committee has consistently emphasised to the department that where officials are allegedly involved in smuggling contraband, criminal cases must be opened. Right from the beginning of the 7th parliamentary term, the committee resolved to conduct as many physical oversight visits as possible to correctional facilities across the country. To date, the committee has visited facilities in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, parts of the Western Cape and Limpopo provinces, said Ms Ramaboleng.
The oversight programme will continue tomorrow with visits to the Barberton Maximum Correctional Centre and the Barberton Youth Correctional Centre.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MS KGOMOTSO ANTHEA RAMOLOBENG.
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