Correctional Services boss Makgothi Thobakgale has revealed that the multiple escapee who was recaptured in Brits last week was allegedly forced out of Rooigrond Maximum Correctional Centre in Mahikeng by prison officials.
Thobakgale told the Madlanga Commission that officials pressured Khomotso Madiba into fleeing to prevent him from revealing their alleged role in a previous escape.
The commissioner said he interviewed Madiba after his recapture and learned that he had allegedly been pressured into escaping.
“The inmate that we just re-arrested last week. I had to interview that inmate with my head of security, because of the information that he wanted to provide to me, information on how he was assisted by our officers to escape. Not only this escape of 2026, but actually the escape of four inmates, including him, in 2022, which led to the escape of 2026, because he was going through court processes for the escape of 2022,” said Thobakgale.
He said officials were determined to prevent Madiba, whom he identified as a member of a gang known as the Air Force that specialises in prison breaks, from implicating them in a 2022 incident in which he and three other inmates were allegedly assisted to flee.
“He was starting to move towards mentioning names of officers, and that’s when they then approached him to say, either you leave, or we are going to kill you. And that’s how then he’s saying they assisted him to escape, so that they break that line of him mentioning their names during court proceedings,” Thobakgale said.
Thobakgale also painted a picture of increased cooperation between prison gangs and outside criminal groupings.
He said close relations between prison gangs and outside criminal networks contribute to a general rise in crime.
Thobakgale said once an official is captured by gangs, “there’s no going back”, adding that very few officials report being approached by gangs.