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C-Max escape infuriates Balfour
20/11/2006 18:38 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A team has been set up to investigate management at Pretoria's C-Max Prison, said Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour on Monday.
Balfour said: "I'm very angry that this kind of escape can take place in one of the most-secure prisons of this country. We will have to deal with the consequences of this."
The minister said the probe into management after the escape of Mozambican national Annanias Mathe, 29, from the country's most-secure prison on Saturday night, would include polygraph tests.
Balfour said: "I don't think that any offender can just escape as easily as that from C-Max. I know C-Max, I've been there several times. There must be some collusion that took place.
"Nobody can ever just take off handcuffs and saw his way through anything and nobody takes notice of that.
"So, there must be some investigation that's done and people charged for that."
Balfour said checks also would be conducted to determine people's movements regarding their shifts and whereabouts
The SA Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) said the escape was "an inside job".
Certain it was an inside job
Sapohr president Golden Miles Bhudu said: "Although we don't have the finer details and facts about how the escape took place, we can, without any fear of contradiction, put our heads on the block and say it was an inside job."
Investigating officer captain Arnold Boonsthra refused to comment on the possibility that Mathe may have colluded with prison officials during his escape.
He said a search around the clock would continue on Monday.
"We haven't slept at all for nearly two days and are still searching for him," Boonsthra said.
It is believed that the "Houdini" stripped and covered his entire body with petroleum jelly to climb out through a window measuring just 20cm by 60cm.
Boonsthra said Mathe appeared to have uncuffed himself, climbed through several small windows after breaking them, and got out on to the roof of the prison.
Mathe apparently broke two steel bars from his bed which he wedged on either side of the window to help him slide his shoulders through.
He apparently took another steel pipe from his bed and made a hook. He then tied his clothes and bed linen to it and used that to slide out of the cell down the firewall.
Halfway down, Mathe used some of the grime he had collected on his way down the wall to write a note to prison officials saying: "Fuck you."
Correctional Services spokesperson Bheki Manzini said: "In April 2005, Mathe escaped while in police custody. At the time, he was housed next to the staff office to monitor him closely."
It initially took a task team nine months to arrest Mathe.
Boonsthra, who formed part of this team, described the man as "a scrawny little guy".
Extensive military training
"It took my colleague and I - we're both over six feet tall and weigh more than 140kg - nearly 15 minutes to catch and subdue him.
"He has extensive military training, which we believe enabled him to escape in the manner he did," said Boonsthra.
Mathe faced 51 charges, including murder, attempted murder, rape, hijacking and armed robbery.
He was detained at A6 section, which houses hardened criminals regarded as escape risks.
- SAPA
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