Correctional services minister Groenewald under fire over 'missing prisoners' at Pollsmoor

Correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald is under fire by the DA seeking an explanation as to how three dangerous inmates “disappeared” from Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison.

MP Nicholas Gotsell, the DA's National Council of Provinces (NCOP) member on security and justice, is demanding answers as to how two of them, convicted of rape and murder, were no longer in custody despite a high court order they be detained at the prison.

Gotsell said three suspects were sentenced to detention for violent crimes and detained at the Horizon Child and Youth Centre due to their age. They were transferred to Pollsmoor Juvenile Centre in July 2024 after violently assaulting a staff member with a sharp object.

“Despite being sentenced prisoners, they were later transported to the Blue Downs magistrate's court on new assault charges. Legally they were remand detainees for that purpose only — but as sentenced prisoners, they should have been returned to Pollsmoor thereafter.

“Instead, they vanished,” said Gotsell.

One of them was rearrested for robbery in Table View in April 2025, raising questions about why he was engaged in crime while supposedly serving an 11-year sentence.

The DA on Monday sought urgent confirmation of their whereabouts from Groenewald who replied they were at Pollsmoor Remand Detainee Centre.

However, during an oversight visit to the prison on Wednesday, Gotsell said he established that one of them was transferred to Drakenstein Correctional Centre and released in February 2025. The second was rebooked into medium A section of Pollsmoor on April 22 — days after the Table View robbery — and the third was released to court in December 2024 and not rebooked into Pollsmoor.

“This raises deeply troubling questions as to why the minister provided parliament with false information when violent offenders were clearly not in custody as well as how many other such administrative bungles have gone unnoticed. It is unacceptable that, in these circumstances, victims may be unaware that their attackers are back on the streets — long before they should be,” said Gotsell.

Groenewald is scheduled to answer questions in the NCOP on Thursday regarding the training of correctional officers, state patients in correctional facilities and the recidivism rate within the corrections system.

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