2009/01/21
A MTHATHA prison warder was fired on Friday last week following a Daily Dispatch exposé that depicted the prison as one of the most overcrowded in the country.
Mpakamiseni Ndaba, the warder, has been accused by the Department of Correctional Services of helping the media expose the overcrowded conditions in Mthatha Prison.
However, when Ndaba appealed against the decision, his dismissal was changed to a suspension pending an inquiry in which he was charged with breach of security.
In the charge sheet the Department of Corrections Services wrote: “You breached security arrangement by allowing private officials who were having cameras inside the correction centre and opened the holding cells for them to shot photos (sic).”
Another document, marked “Notice of Dismissal”, reads: “Your services with the department is terminated with effect from 2009-01-16.”
Yet another document, dated yesterday , serves Ndaba with suspension pending the outcome of an appeal.
Speaking to the Dispatch yesterday, Ndaba said he was shocked by the way the department was handling the matter.
“I had visited my doctor last week when I was served with a letter of dismissal. I never had even attended a hearing because I was on a sick leave, then the next thing I am dismissed,” Ndaba said.
Ndaba disputed that he had helped any journalists get access to the prison cells. “I am still to be convinced with evidence that I allowed journalists to that prison; how did they (journalists) get through the first gate, because they should have been searched there,” Ndaba said.
This is not the first time Ndaba has been fired.
In 2006 he was sacked for speaking to the media after he commented about the closure of a female section at the Mthatha prison.
At that time, Ndaba appealed his dismissal, won the case and was reinstated.
In July last year the Dispatch published a report on how around 300 awaiting-trial prisoners and convicted prisoners were crammed into a cell meant for only 15 inmates.
This was followed by interviews with:
lAn ex-convict who claimed he had contracted HIV while detained in Mthatha prison;
lA warder who claimed the chance of being raped in that cell in only one day was higher than 90 percent; and
lDr Bongiwe Mbuwako, who worked as a full-time doctor from 2006 until May 2008. She revealed that HIV was very prevalent among inmates at the prison.
She said overcrowding could also result in the spread of contagious diseases like tuberculosis.
A number of escapes from the prison in recent years was also attributed to overcrowding.
Nkosinathi Breakfast, deputy regional commissioner in the Eastern Cape, confirmed Ndaba’s dismissal.
“Yes, I know that there is a prison warder who, after being found guilty by a disciplinary hearing, was dismissed,” Breakfast said.
He said he did not have any more information about the matter.
In August last year, Breakfast told the Dispatch that action would be taken to deal with overcrowding at Mthatha prison.
At the time, Breakfast said they had been talking to the National Prosecuting Authority and were looking at releasing awaiting-trial prisoners involved in minor cases. - By LUBABALO NGCUKANA
Mthatha Bureau
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