Despite a report warning of the risks of not having surveillance systems in place, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) maintains there is no security threat in the country's prisons.
Following the end of the department's four-year contract with security services provider Sondolo IT, the DCS has failed to make arrangements to keep its prison surveillance system running.
According to Sondolo IT, the DCS had been warned about the risks associated with failures to renew the contract. The company states that a risk assessment report had been presented to the DCS a week before its contract expired. It warned of possible security breaches once prison-based control centres are without staff.
Sondolo IT was awarded the contract by the DCS to supply and operate hi-tech, closed-circuit television monitors at 66 prisons in the country. The four-year contract with the DCS was said to be worth over R250 million.
DCS spokesman Manelisi Wolela says Sondolo IT provided both the equipment and staff, and the contract for the equipment will continue. However, while department officials had reviewed the system, the DCS has no capability to man it. He adds that this poses no security threat at prisons.
"Advanced security technology is only an add-on to our existing security system. Our greatest achievements (in reducing the rate of escapes per year) were realised before we installed the surveillance technology.
“The surveillance system is an important part of the prisons' integrated security systems and the department has already made plans to fill the gap by advertising 600 posts, which will be finalised in June. We are certain that we will get people with the skills needed to provide the necessary services immediately.”
No prison staff
In terms of the contract, Sondolo IT's security personnel manned control rooms which ran surveillance and other systems. Nationally, the company monitored 1 850 cameras, 850 biometric readers, and handled 600 metal detectors and 640 access control systems. The departure of Sondolo IT's staff means the national monitoring facility - located at the Pretoria Correctional Centre - is without staff.
This also means facilities such as Pretoria Central Prison, Johannesburg Prison, Cape Town's Pollsmoor Prison and Durban's Westville Prison, as well as five regional control rooms, are without surveillance capability.
Correctional services minister Ngconde Balfour previously stated Sondolo IT would be tasked with the staffing of security control rooms. He said outsourcing of staff was necessary to minimise the possibility of collusion by staff manning the control rooms and those working at the prisons.
Wolela states the DCS will continue outsourcing staff and short-term plans are being implemented. Regional commissioners are making contingency plans to ensure no escapes occur during the “short-term challenge”, he notes.
Tender irregularities
Sondolo IT's security contracts are being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) for alleged irregularities. In a forensic audit held in May 2008, the SIU cited the Sondolo IT contract for possible tender rigging and collusion with DCS officials.
Democratic Alliance correctional services spokesman James Selfe says the department's failure to have a contingency plan "follows a similar pattern as the department's dealings with caterer Bosasa".
Sondolo IT is a subsidiary of the nationwide security agency Bosasa Security, which is a part of the Bosasa group of companies. The company was registered as a private company in February 2005 and awarded the contract to run the surveillance at the prisons less than a year later.
"The failure to have contingency plans in place to deal with the lapsing of the Sondolo IT surveillance contract may very well be deliberate. One is reminded in this context of the fact that the catering contract awarded to Bosasa was extended because no provisions had been made to put the contract out on tender, leading to its renewal administratively,” notes Selfe.
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