Lamola: Need to review ‘flawed’ parole system
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has admitted that there is a need to review the country’s parole system.
Lamola met with high ranking officials at the Goodwood Correctional Facility following the arrests of at least two parolees for child murders in the Western Cape.
The meeting was called following the arrest of 54-year-old parolee Moyhdian Pangarker in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk.
A parolee has also appeared in the Tulbagh Magistrate’s Court in connection with the rape and murder of 7-year-old boy Reagan Gertse.
The process to review the parole system will start in the Western Cape and then be rolled out across the country.
Lamola says the system should be reviewed to ensure it serves the interests of society.
Lamola calls urgent meeting to address 'flaws' in parole system
They will mainly focus on the Western Cape. This comes after the kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk who went missing earlier this month. Van Wyk's body was later recovered from a storm water pipe on the N1 outside Worcester in the Western Cape.
"We urgently need to review the various rehabilitation programmes that our parolees undergo to equip them with skills to assist them to abhor their previous life of crime.
"We must make sure that the parole system reflects the interests of society through detailed preventative and corrective measures on parole violations. We must also strengthen our monitoring mechanisms through the community.”
The review will include finding ways to improve the department’s data analysis.
"We will embark on a process which ensures that the parole board's decision-making process withstand any type of scrutiny when putting information forward," says Lamola.