The Democratic Alliance has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, Kgomotso Ramolobeng, to demand an emergency meeting after revelations that nearly 28,000 parolees have disappeared from the system, including offenders convicted of murder, rape, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
The DA has requested that the Committee summon Minister Pieter Groenewald, the National Commissioner of Correctional Services and senior departmental officials to account to Parliament.
They must explain how long these parolees have been missing, what crimes they committed, what action the Department has taken to find them, and how many have since committed further offences and been arrested again.
This is a public safety crisis.
When murderers and rapists disappear from the parole system, the state places communities at risk and destroys public confidence in the criminal justice system.
The DA has raised the alarm about this broken system for years, long before the current Minister took office, and we have continued to do so since.
Yet Minister Groenewald has allowed this crisis to continue under his watch.
South Africa’s entire criminal justice chain is failing: investigators fail to build strong cases, courts take too long to finalise matters, prisons remain overcrowded, and Correctional Services cannot properly monitor violent offenders after release.
A DA-led national government would not accept excuses.
We would implement GPS-enabled electronic monitoring, restore proper tracking and tracing, integrate SAPS and Correctional Services systems, and hold officials accountable.
Parliament must now do its job.
Every untraceable parolee shows how badly the state has failed to protect the public.
The DA will keep fighting for a justice system that governs well, holds criminals accountable, and keeps South Africans safe.