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Mathe: Prisons 'negligent'
20/02/2007 12:02 - (SA)
Pretoria - The ministerial task team appointed to probe the escape of Ananias Mathe from Pretoria's C-Max prison on November 18 last year has placed the blame squarely on the "gross negligence" of departmental officials.
In its report presented to parliament's correctional services committees on Tuesday, the team said warders failed to conduct proper and regular visits to all sections and posts in the prison.
This had resulted in a delay in discovering Mathe's escape and raising the alarm, which could either have prevented the escape or led to his immediate arrest.
Officials also failed to properly perform their duties, which meant Mathe's escape via a catwalk and the prison's rooftop was not detected.
The report added that officials had in certain instances fraudulently manipulated entries, and not complied with regulations, in completing the daily activity registers, section journals, and the head of centre journal on the day of the escape and before.
Probe into possible corruption, bribery
"This non-compliance and fraudulent manipulation of official documentation could also be viewed in some instances as a deliberate attempt to have covered up the discovery of the escape," the report said.
The task team recommended that criminal charges be pursued against the officials, "who through gross negligence aided in the escape of Mathe".
Internal disciplinary action should also be instituted against them for non-compliance with duties that aided Mathe's escape.
It further recommended that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and police crime intelligence investigate possible corruption and bribery of departmental officials that could have aided the escape.
According to the report, Mathe had made four attempts to escape from C-Max before succeeding on November 18 - the first on April 30 and the fourth on November 13.
The escape was discovered when an official noted Mathe's cell monitoring window on the catwalk had been removed, after which a broken window leading from the catwalk to the roof was discovered.
Escorted through exits?
The task team's report said Mathe's "probable route of escape" entailed him forcibly removing the cell monitoring window, and forcing himself through onto the catwalk "and/or was aided by being pulled up onto the catwalk".
He then moved along the catwalk towards a door leading to the roof exercise area, where he removed some louvre window panes and climbed through the window into the exercise area, from which he probably jumped to the ground.
Mathe then headed towards watchtower two - near which a rope and iron bars were found - where he either scaled the perimeter wall or "exited through an unmanned tower two".
He finally made his escape over the chain link fence and was picked up by a getaway vehicle nearby.
The report said an alternative route of escape was for Mathe to have been removed from his cell, possibly by an official, and escorted through the exits.
- SAPA
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