Officials patrol during a raid by the Department of Correctional Services at Goodwood Correctional Centre in Cape Town on 18 July 2024. Picture: Gallo Images / Jaco Marais
Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald says a Zimbabwean inmate was able to record and boast about his comfortable life at Goodwood prison on TikTok due to insufficient supervision.
As a result, six officials are now facing disciplinary action.
A video of Bornface Banks boasting about a “fine life” at the Goodwood Correctional Centre in Cape Town circulated on social media last month.
“Hello haters, hello haters, you put us in prison and you think we are suffering. No, my brother, we are doing extremely fine.
“Look at how happy we are. And this morning we had breakfast and in the afternoon we had lunch and we had supper. We are doing extremely fine, we are not even suffering at all. We are happy.
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“We are not even paying rent, we are not buying electricity, nothing my brother. We don’t even cook, they give us food for free. We are not the same, my brother, no we are not.
“We don’t need toiletries, we get them for free. And the education is going to be free in prison. We are not suffering. If you think we are suffering, no my brother, we are not, you are wrong,” Banks said in the video.
This incident resulted in a raid at the prison on 16 July.
Responding to questions from MPs during a National Assembly hybrid plenary session on Wednesday, Minister Pieter Groenewald confirmed that Bornface Banks, who faces kidnapping charges, has been transferred to a maximum-security prison.
The inmate’s TikTok account, “BonybanksKayz”, was shut down on 28 July, according to the minister.
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“Further investigations indicated that these videos inside the cell and the courtyard were recorded owing to poor supervision by officials.
“The inmate was charged, degraded and immediately transferred to a maximum facility.
“The TikTok account was deactivated on 28th of July 2024 and the inmate forfeited his privileges such as visits and buying from the offenders shop for a period of three months,” he told Parliament.
Groenewald confirmed that the Department of Correctional Services appointed an investigator to look into the possible complicity of prison officials after the viral video surfaced.
The investigation implicated two senior officials.
“It was quite clear that some of the officials were part of this breach and I can say that after investigations, a total of six officials were identified for disciplinary actions to be instituted against them. Investigations were conducted and completed.
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“The area commissioner of Goodwood took a decision on Sunday, 25th of August, to institute disciplinary processes against the six officials.
“The status at the moment is all six members are formally charged. Two out of the six are finalised, namely the head of the centre and acting unit manager; and four [others] are still in process.”
Groenewald further mentioned that the raid at Goodwood was conducted to dispel the notion of a “soft life” for inmates behind bars.
“A similar approach was to be observed by two other searching operations being in Johannesburg and Durban correctional centres, removing contraband in order to ensure safe and secure custody, [which] is a priority for Correctional Services.”
The minister acknowledged that cellphone smuggling in prisons was a significant issue and mentioned that the department is working on a system to block these devices from gaining connectivity.
However, this technology is “expensive”.
“We will have to look at our budget,” Groenewald said.
He added that stricter measures, including enhanced monitoring, would be implemented against officials to avoid collusion with inmates and to eliminate contraband in correctional facilities.
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