Prison officials are expected to release further details on Tuesday of the fire that gutted parts of the Kutama-Sinthumule Correctional Centre. Limpopo police commissioner Thembi Hadebe visited the prison after the blaze.
A kitchen, maintenance section as well as two blocks housing inmates burned down. The fire has been extinguished. Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Nkosi Patekile Holomisa is also expected to visit the facility. The Correctional Services department says inmates were moved to safe zone inside the prison.
Department spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo says, “At this stage we can confirm that it is the kitchen, maintenance and two blocks been the green and yellow centre been affected. Inmates are being moved to a safe zone inside the facility. More that is critical at this stage is to protect life and ensuring that fire is extinguished completely.
The SABC has been reliably informed that all the 3 024 inmates will be relocated from the Kutama-Sinthumule correctional centre to other correctional centres countrywide.
The evacuation process is expected to start on Tuesday morning. Hundreds of inmates spent the entire night sitting on the soccer field inside the facility due to lack of accommodation, following fire incident. It is suspected that the fire might have been started by some inmates who were demanding to be transferred to other prisons.
Source: SABC
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