South Africans are being confronted with a deeply unsettling question tonight: how can nearly 30,000
parolees and probation offenders simply disappear from the system? A damning investigation by
amaBhungane has revealed that Correctional Services cannot account for thousands of offenders — including people convicted of violent crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery.
The investigation paints a picture of a criminal justice system under severe strain, plagued by overcrowded prisons, broken monitoring systems, collapsed tracing units and poor coordination between Correctional Services and the SAPS. AmaBhungane journalist Orrin Singh says authorities are effectively out of touch with what is happening on the ground. So what does this mean for public safety? Are dangerous offenders slipping through the cracks while government systems fail to communicate with one another? And perhaps most importantly — who should be held accountable
when the state loses track of convicted criminals?