The deadly cost of ineptitude

We are angry. Livid, in fact, because our government’s incompetence or inefficiency is not victimless. It is too often a matter of life and death.

On Monday we told the story of a missing little girl, Bontle Mashiyane, who disappeared outside her home near Hazyview, Mpumalanga. She was last seen in the company of Collen Hlongwane, whose girlfriend lives near her home.

Hlongwane is a murderer who was released on parole in December last year after serving five years of his 15-year sentence for killing Khonzi Ntsingwane.

How authorities deemed it appropriate to release a murderer on parole after serving only a third of his sentence is simply inexplicable.

The correctional services department tells us Hlongwane completed his rehabilitation and social work programmes – seemingly the only prerequisite for a dangerous criminal to cross the bridge from inmate to parolee.

It gets worse.

Today we report that when he killed Ntsingwane, Hlongwane was already out on parole after serving only half of his 10-year sentence for attempted murder.

This means on at least two occasions our parole system freed a dangerous man who has demonstrated that he has no problem taking the life of another. We must ask why?

This is either because the parole systems are horribly slack and can easily be fooled or manipulated, or that those who made the decision to release him, especially the second time, did not have full knowledge of or appreciation for his crimes.

Either way, this is dangerous and unacceptable.

Of major concern is that while seeking information about Hlongwane’s crimes, we discovered that he does not have an ID, potentially increasing the difficulty in tracking him.

Furthermore, the data capturing of Hlongwane’s cases on our law enforcement systems is so poor and disjointed that officers cannot readily access a full profile of his criminal activity, including those crimes he stands accused of.

We do not know if Hlongwane is indeed involved in Bontle’s disappearance but his violent history certainly raises concern. If he is, this means our government, which presides over one of the most dangerous places for women and children, twice freed a man whose violent streak appears to be escalating.