Mkhwanazi calls for more prisons to curb drug crime

By Sihle Mavuso

KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has narrated how frustrating it is for police officers to arrest a drug dealer only for the courts to release him or her with a light sentence on the basis that prisons are full. 

Mkhwanazi said overcrowded prisons were undermining efforts to combat crime, drugs and other offences in the province.

Mkhwanazi was speaking in Durban on Friday while responding to questions from the media after a meeting between police, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli, government agencies and anti-illegal immigration groups, including the March and March Movement, amid protests in parts of the province and elsewhere in the country.

He said the work of dedicated police officers and the judiciary was being compromised by a shortage of prison space.

Mkhwanazi said suspects arrested with small quantities of drugs rarely end up serving prison sentences because of overcrowding in correctional facilities.

“The chances of