On 18 July 2022, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ron-ald Lamola chaired a joint meeting between the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and the Judicial Inspectorate for Cor-rectional Services (JICS) at Ebongweni Maximum Correctional Cen-tre, which falls under Kokstad Management Area, KwaZulu-Natal Region. he joint meeting coincided with Nelson Mandela International Day which is celebrated annually in hon-our of former President Mandela. date 1 536 offenders, but currently houses 664 high security risk remand detainees and sentenced offenders. Mthombeni fur-ther mentioned that the Standard Operat-ing Procedures (SOPs) were reviewed in or-der to address identified gaps, adding that inputs in this regard were obtained from JICS in June 2022. The delegation took a brief tour of the fa-cility to gain insight into the operations. They also interacted with offenders. The Inspecting Judge, Justice Edwin Cameron, mentioned that DCS and JICS have a sym-biotic relationship that requires constant engagements and collaborations. “We are very heartened that the Minister, Deputy Minister and acting National Com-missioner are open to changing operation-al structures and guidelines in collabora-Acting Regional Commissioner of KwaZu-lu-Natal, Kenneth Mthombeni, delivered an overview of the developments relating to operational issues at the Correctional Centre flagged by JICS in their 2019 and 2021 findings. Mr Mthombeni emphasised that the centre adheres to the prescripts of Section 35 (2) of the Constitution pertain-ing the rights of detained persons. He em-phasized that the centre took into serious consideration the findings of JICS in 2019 on offenders who were placed at the cen-tre longer than the required period, hence their subsequent transfer. The centre was constructed to accommo
