POPCRU blames infrastructure challenges for NW inmate escape
Edward Madiba cut through a burglar-bar door to escape from his single cell.
Black News 
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in the North West has blamed infrastructure challenges for the escape of an inmate from the Rooigrond Maximum Security Prison near Mahikeng.
Edward Madiba cut through a burglar-bar door to escape from his single cell.
Last month, the SA Human Rights Commission released a damning report highlighting non-compliance at facilities belonging to various departments, including correctional services in the province.
POPCRU’s provincial secretary Johannes Dire says Rooigrond has not been refurbished for a long time.
“The current state of Rooigrond Correctional Centre is in serious decay because it’s the building that has been used even during the apartheid era, including in the Bantustan by the Bophuthatswana government. Since then, till now, the building has not been refurbished,” explains Dire.
