The Tears Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has lambasted the Department of Correctional Services following the escape of convicted rapists from prisons across the country.
In the latest incident, two convicted rapists escaped from a correctional services facility in the Eastern Cape last Friday.
One of the inmates was recaptured on Monday while a manhunt is still being conducted for the other escapee.
Tears Foundation founder, Mara Glennie says such escapes inflict a great deal of trauma and pain on survivors and women in surrounding communities.
“I think it is terrifying that another two people have escaped shortly after Bester had escaped and you can only think what the victims of the raped are feeling because security in the prison seems to be lacking but the justice system is failing people and I find that terrifying.”
Meanwhile, Dr Nandipha Magudumana and her three co-accused in the case of the escape of Bester will be applying for bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court.
They are facing, among others, charges of murder, aiding the escape of a prisoner, and defeating the ends of justice.
The state has previously opposed bail for the medical doctor and two other men accused of aiding Bester in his escape from the maximum secure Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Magudumana’s 65-year-old father, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, was released on R10 000 bail after the state said it was not opposing bail due to his chronic illness.
Senohe Matsoara, a former G4S employee, and Teboho Lipholo, a contracted camera installer at the Mangaung Prison, are the other two accused.
