Almost 200 prisoners serving life sentences in five Eastern Cape prisons have turned to the courts to compel Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha to release them on parole.
The 194 applicants‚ who filed court papers at the Bhisho‚ Mthatha and East London high courts‚ are among the 376 lifers in the Eastern Cape who are still serving out sentences for murders‚ rapes and robberies despite qualifying for parole.
Their lawyer‚ Lwandile Singqumba‚ of Singqumba Attorneys‚ argues that his clients‚ once classified as dangerous‚ are now rehabilitated after going through all the programmes‚ making them eligible for parole.
Of the 194 inmates‚ 53 are at the Mdantsane prison‚ 37 in Middledrift‚ 88 in St Albans in Port Elizabeth‚ 14 at Wellington in Mthatha and two at the female section of the West Bank facility in East London.
Two of the 194 inmates were handed the death penalty in 1984 and 1993 and lived on death row until their sentences were commuted to life sentences in 2000‚ documents seen by the Dispatch revealed.
Singqumba admitted that parole was not a right but a privilege. “The lifers appreciate that this is a privilege but they have a legitimate expectation because they finished the detention period and attended the programmes aimed at training‚ treating and rehabilitating them‚ and [now they have] approached the courts as a last resort.”
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
