Middledrift prison taps run dry

Inmates say their human rights being violated

DOZENS of inmates at the Middledrift prison are without running water and as a result cannot shower or flush toilets.

The Saturday Dispatch was this week inundated with calls from inmates claiming the taps had run dry from as far back as last Sunday, causing serious health issues.

Prison officials in charge of the kitchen were reported to be using their private vehicles to fetch water from the surrounding community in order to cook for prisoners.

Eastern Cape correctional services commissioner, Nkosinathi Breakfast, confirmed the prison was experiencing water outages due to ongoing maintenance of water infrastructure by the Raymond Mhlaba local municipality.

“There is a problem of water but we are providing water to our centre and the municipality is assisting us by filling our tanks with water,” Breakfast said.

However, inmates who spoke to the Dispatch this week painted a different picture. They said the water was not reaching their showers and ablution facilities.

“The toilets are situated in our cells and are not flushing. It is hot and humid and this is causing a horrible smell. It is a human rights issue,” the inmate said, who declined to be named for fear of being victimised. Another inmate questioned why they were not being moved to another prison until the situation was back to normal.

“There is more than 1 000 of us in here and only two inmates are white, this would not be allowed to happen in West Bank where there are many white inmates,” he said.

But Breakfast said there was no way out for the inmates.

“They can’t be taken out until water is fully restored. Where are we going to take them because all our facilities are crowded.

Middledrift Ward 16 councillor Xolile Badi said the municipality was building a water reservoir to cater for the town’s growing population. “Amathole district municipality is assisting with that. Our water infrastructure is very old and time and again leaks a huge amount of water.

“We did not have water for two days because of ongoing maintenance but I don’t know what is happening in the prison, the town does have water,” Badi said.

He said it was unclear when water would be restored but that municipal officials were working round the clock to complete the reservoir. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za

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