Publication: The Star Issued: Date: 2007-02-24 Reporter: Kevin Ritchie

Judgment Day for Erasmus as Accusations Fly

 

Publication 

The Star
Date

2007-02-24

Reporter

 Kevin Ritchie

Web Link

www.thestar.co.za

 

Questions raised about the independence of SA's inspecting judge of prisons

How impartial is Inspecting Judge of Prisons Nathan Erasmus? Appointed last June, he heads an independent office that reports on the treatment of prisoners, prison conditions and corruption. A number of claims, however, have been raised about Erasmus's independence.

Democratic Alliance MP James Selfe wrote to Judge Erasmus last August after an inmate filmed Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour's nephew, a warder at Middeldrift Prison, involved in "corrupt activities".

The inmate, who also filmed himself having sex with a female warder, told Selfe that prison authorities had captured his secret footage of himself and the corrupt warders. The inmate faces transferral to the maximum- security prison in Kokstad as a result.

Selfe asked Judge Erasmus to investigate, but was horrified when Balfour received the entire correspondence from the judge. Selfe had assumed his complaint to Judge Erasmus would be treated in confidence, as Balfour was "an implicated party".

Judge Erasmus confirmed he had passed on the letter to Balfour.

"Nowhere in the letter did Mr Selfe say the contents were confidential. I was requested to intervene. I did this by getting responses from every person mentioned in the letter. This included the minister."

Recently it was alleged that Judge Erasmus played golf with former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, shortly before Yengeni began his stint at Malmesbury Prison. Balfour also used the judge to deny claims that Yengeni was receiving special privileges.

Judge Erasmus confirmed that he had played in a fourball with Yengeni "three to four years ago".

However "the fact that Mr Yengeni was known to me before his incarceration" had prompted Judge Erasmus to take along an inspector from his office when he went to inspect Yengeni's prison conditions, so no such allegations could be levelled against him.

Judge Erasmus was also drawn into fraudster Schabir Shaik's 75-day stay in Durban's private St Augustine's Hospital suffering from high blood pressure, depression and chest pains. Judge Erasmus said he had reviewed all of Shaik's medical reports and written a report, which he gave to the minister last week.

"It would have been inappropriate for me to make a finding on the merits of Shaik's medical condition, since they could be at the centre of a legal dispute [between Shaik's medical aid company and Shaik]. "

Sources within the Department of Correctional Service (DCS) have unfavourably compared Judge Erasmus to his long-serving predecessor, Judge Hannes Fagan, who retired last year.

One told the Saturday Star: "Judge Erasmus attended a DCS conference in Canada last October, then invited Minister Balfour to address the office's bosberaad last month. It's unheard of."

Judge Erasmus said: "I did go to the International Corrections and Prisons Association conference, but it was arranged independently. I didn't know that the DCS would be there."

On the second day, he said, he bumped into former DCS commissioner Linda Mti and two or three other officials, but this was "by chance".

He confirmed that Balfour had addressed a "strategic session".

"I asked the minister to brief us on the legislative environment. The minister spoke to our middle managers and stressed the importance of the independence of the office."

Another source said: "We're very disappointed. We had far higher expectations of Judge Erasmus as the first black inspecting judge of prisons.

"Judge Fagan wasn't strong on human rights, but he was very strong on the independence of this office. Judge Erasmus is becoming the mouthpiece and rubber stamp for the minister."

This view was echoed by Golden Miles Bhudu, president of the SA Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr): "We write letters to him and he ignores or rejects them."

Bhudu complained that, two weeks ago, City Press broke a story about Kokstad's prison having no water or electricity for several days.

"Judge Erasmus responded that my allegations were unsubstantiated."

Judge Erasmus said the electricity and water supply had been disrupted, but had since been rectified, so Sapohr's allegation that the situation had endured "for days on end" was unsubstantiated. He said his office received complaints from Sapohr daily, but that all of these were investigated, including two instances where the judge was able to stop hunger strikes.

In one of these cases, he said, he had flown to Johannesburg to inspect Leeuwkop Prison unannounced.

"If unsatisfied with the outcome of investigations, one must guard against attacking the integrity of the person making the decision," he said.

With acknowledgement to Kevin Ritchie and The Star.