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Mpho Mkumbeni had been serving a life sentence for murder and has been at the Mangaung Correctional Centre since 2014.
Picture: iStock
Four prison warders attached to the G4S Mangaung Correctional Centre are expected to appear in court for allegedly killing an inmate.
The four warders were handcuffed by police on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said 38-year-old inmate Mpho Mkhumbeni died at the facility on 12 March.
“At the time, the death was believed to be due to natural causes and an inquest docket was opened for further investigations.
“However, subsequent post-mortem results indicated that Mkhumbeni died due to unnatural causes. These findings led investigators to change the inquest docket to a murder investigation,” Makhele said.
Makhele added that the four warders, aged between 34 and 50, have been charged for the murder of the inmate.
“The arrested warders are scheduled to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court today, 23 April 2025. The Saps are committed to ensuring that justice is served and will thoroughly investigate this case.”
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Mkhumbeni died in a prison hospital following an unauthorised raid of his cell where he was allegedly pepper-sprayed and beaten.
He was serving a life sentence for murder at the time.
DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said after receiving conflicting reports of Mkhumbeni’s death, the department launched a full-scale investigation into the matter.
Nxumalo said a member of the dedicated search team (DST) accused Mkhumbeni and his cellmates of stealing R800 from his bag, which he forgot in the cell following the raid.
“During a return visit, the four inmates in the cell were interrogated, allegedly assaulted and tortured over the missing money. These claims were initially denied by the DST officials and the contractor.
“A sanctioned post-mortem examination concluded that inmate Mkhumbeni’s death was unnatural, caused by complications from pepper spray exposure and blunt force trauma, resulting in a formal classification of the case as murder,” Nxumalo said.
He said senior managers, who were required to provide oversight during and after the search, failed to intervene or report the assault.
Nxumalo added that following the investigations, an inquest was opened by the South African Police Service, which was later converted into a murder case.
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