Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

South Africa

South Africa, Maverick News

Paperwork problems and misinformation — how Cape Town murder and rape convicts ‘vanished’ from jail

Paperwork problems and misinformation — how Cape Town murder and rape convicts ‘vanished’ from jail
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng at the juvenile section during an oversight visit to the Pollsmoor Correctional Centre on April 22, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. This is part of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services constitutional mandate over the Department of Correctional Services. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
22 May 2025
Facebook
1
Questions recently surfaced about the whereabouts of three Cape Town convicts. Their jail sentences suggested they were behind bars, but after one was rearrested, it emerged that may not be the case. Now prison authorities say paperwork issues resulted in their release from custody.

It seems like a straightforward task for jail authorities: confirm the location of three sentenced convicts who were transferred from a youth facility to Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison.

But instead this undertaking has exposed an exceptionally worrying situation – that some sentenced criminals are not in prison, even if the jail terms handed to them suggest they should be behind bars.

The incident that recently sparked concerns about the whereabouts of sentenced convicts occurred last month, April 2025, when there was a robbery in the Cape Town suburb of Table View.

Rearrested while sentenced


It turned out that a suspect subsequently arrested in connection with the robbery, Xolani du Preez, had previously been convicted of murder.

And the sentence handed down in that murder case extended beyond when the robbery happened, which meant Du Preez should technically have been in jail at the time.

This matter expanded, because the whereabouts of two other sentenced convicts – Me-Kayle Timmie and Mikyle Mentoor – also came into question.

Read more: Jailhouse rot – SA prisons plagued by a cellphones, cash, drugs, knives and alcohol smuggling hub

Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor were previously convicted of separate crimes and sentenced. They were then detained at the same youth facility where they faced assault allegations, which saw them transferred to a section of the Pollsmoor Correctional Centre.

But it turns out that, as of this week, only one of them, Du Preez, was confirmed to be in jail.

This adds to major concerns about South Africa’s crammed prisons.

Read more: Murder of ‘stabbed, bitten’ Cape Town inmate probed, Mangaung jail killing ‘cover-up’ exposed

In March, Daily Maverick reported on prison overcrowding, which stood at 155%, and rampant corruption among warders.

This month, Daily Maverick also reported on how four officials linked to Cape Town’s Goodwood Correctional Centre were suspended.

This came after a detainee was murdered there earlier this year.

convicts Pollsmoor Cape Town A guard patrols outside Pollsmoor Correctional Centre on 22 April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)


Questions, answers, more questions


Back to the intricate saga centred on Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor.

DA MP Nicholas Gotsell flagged concerns about the trio’s whereabouts this month and has been pushing to get answers. Now he wants the investigation into the matter to be externalised from prison authorities.

Daily Maverick also submitted questions to relevant figures, trying to establish what happened to Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor. On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) replied, while Gotsell was awaiting official answers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7qVVhsq-Hc

According to the DCS, it had acted lawfully, it was inaccurate to describe the three convicts as “missing” from the correctional system, and the situation had developed into what it was because it had not received certain paperwork.

The day before DCS responded, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald’s spokesperson, Euné Oelofsen, told Daily Maverick: “An investigation is under way to ascertain the correct facts. 

“The minister is still awaiting the outcome of this investigation and will duly comment once it is received.”

It appears that Groenewald’s office previously dealt with inaccurate information about the saga, sparking more questions.

Murder and rape convicts


Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor, because of their ages, were initially detained in the Horizon Child and Youth Care Centre in the Cape Town suburb of Eerste River.

Daily Maverick has established:

  • Du Preez, who is now about 19, was convicted for the November 2022 murder of make-up artist Suritha Alting (28) in the Cape Town suburb of Richwood. In 2023 he was found guilty of the murder, as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances, and was sentenced to two years and 245 days at the Horizon centre. After his detention in the facility he was meant to spend another eight years behind bars. This meant he faced roughly 11 years of detention;

  • Timmie, now about 19, was previously sentenced to five years in custody in a rape case linked to Paarl. He was meant to remain at the Horizon centre until he turned 21;

  • Mentoor, also 19, was previously found guilty of murder in a case linked to the Cape Town suburb of Manenberg. He was set to remain in the Horizon centre until he turned 21, after which a five-year suspended sentence would kick in, during which time he could not be convicted of crimes including murder and assault.





 










View this post on Instagram























 

A post shared by Women For Change (@womenforchangesa)






All three were detained at the Horizon centre, but after allegations surfaced involving assault and a staff member, they were transferred to Pollsmoor in July 2024.

This was in keeping with a Western Cape High Court order dated that same month.

They each went to the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court, presumably in relation to the assault matter.

According to the DCS, Du Preez attended the court on 19 March 2025 (roughly a month before the Table View robbery) “and did not return” to custody.

Timmie attended the court on 9 September 2024 “and did not return”.

And Mentoor was at the court on 11 December 2024 “and did not return”.

Read more: Raid at ‘Sun City’ prison fails to curb contraband access as prisoners continue to enjoy ‘outside perks’

By that point Timmie, Mentoor and Du Preez were already sentenced prisoners, but it appears they were treated as awaiting trial.

Sources familiar with policing and jail operations say that because they were sentenced they should have gone back to Pollsmoor after appearing at the Blue Downs court.

convicts Pollsmoor The Medium A section during an oversight visit to the Pollsmoor Correctional Centre on April 22, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. This is part of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services constitutional mandate over the Department of Correctional Services. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)


‘They vanished’


“Instead, they vanished,” Gotsell said this month, before details about the situation were provided to Daily Maverick.

He added that when Du Preez was rearrested on the Table View robbery suspicions in April, it sparked questions about the effective 11-year prison sentence he was meant to have been serving.

On Monday, 12 May, Gotsell wrote to Groenewald, asking for confirmation of the custodial status of Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor.

A response from his office said: “All three… are remand detainees at the Pollsmoor Remand Detainee Centre.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaFqeGCzybI

By that point Du Preez had already been rearrested.

Gotsell went to Pollsmoor to find out more and said he established that Timmie had been transferred to the Drakenstein Correctional Centre and released in February this year. (The DCS told Daily Maverick that Timmie attended the Blue Dows Magistrates’ Court on 9 September 2024 “and did not return”.)

As for Mentoor, Gotsell said it appeared that he was released to a court in December 2024 and never rebooked into Pollsmoor. (This tallies with the DCS information.)

‘Factually incorrect’


This means that whoever provided Groenewald’s office with information about Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor had misinformed it because the latter two convicts were not in Pollsmoor.

Gotsell persisted in trying to find out what was going on.

Last Wednesday (14 May) he wrote to Groenewald again, asking “why the information provided to me on 12 May 2025, namely that all three individuals were detained at Pollsmoor Remand Centre, was factually incorrect”.

He also wanted to know: “What immediate steps will be taken to locate and return Mr Timmie and Mr Mentoor to lawful custody?”

The next day, (15 May), during a question-and-answer session in Parliament, Gotsell asked Groenewald why Du Preez had not been detained at the time of the Table View robbery.

Groenewald responded that an investigation was under way.

‘If heads must roll, they will’


“If you hear (of) these sort of incidents, please put it on the table of my office, because… you actually insist [that] me as a minister [I must] look at the problems,” he said.

“I am not told by everyone in the department what the problems are. You are representatives of the people. They talk to you.”

Groenewald also assured Gotsell: “If there are any mistakes, there will be corrective steps and if heads must roll, then heads will roll.”

Read more: Members of parliamentary committee get inside view of jail life

Five days after that, on Tuesday, 20 May, Gotsell announced that he had written to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

He wanted to know whether Mchunu’s department was aware of “the possible disappearance” of Timmie and Mentoor, who should have been detained at Pollsmoor until at least October 2025. 

Daily Maverick asked Police Ministry spokesperson Kamogelo Mogotsi if Mchunu received Gotsell’s questions and if he had answers.

On Wednesday, 21 May, Mogotsi told Daily Maverick: “An email has been received by the office of the minister and will still be presented to the minister.”

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng in Pollsmoor Prison’s juvenile section during an oversight visit on 22 April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)


‘No document citing convictions’


DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo also responded to Daily Maverick’s questions about the saga on Wednesday.

He said a DCS investigation showed that Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor had indeed previously been sentenced “to serve time at the Horizon Child and Youth Centre for various offences including rape, murder and aggravated robbery.”

Nxumalo then added something worrying, suggesting that a paperwork bungle, or something along these lines, saw them prematurely released from where they were detained next – Pollsmoor.

“While at Horizon they were allegedly involved in the assault of a staff member, leading to a criminal charge, and having to be detained at Pollsmoor Correctional as remand detainees; there was no other document citing that the three have a conviction on a separate matter,” he said.



According to Nxumalo, the high court order from July 2024 (confirming that they should be detained at Pollsmoor), which would have clarified that sentencing status, was sent to the Horizon centre but not to the DCS.

“As a result, DCS did not receive any formal notification of the sentencing decision and continued to treat the individuals as remand detainees,” he said.

Du Preez, Timmie and Mentoor were therefore admitted to Pollsmoor’s remand section, which means they were effectively viewed as awaiting trial and not yet sentenced.

‘Pollsmoor should have known’


Gotsell has a different take on this.

He told Daily Maverick that when he visited Pollsmoor earlier this month to find out where the convicts were, he “personally looked at [the DCS] system” and under two profiles – Timmie and Du Preez’s – “it reflected the high court case number”.

Pollsmoor officials, according to Gotsell, should therefore have known the men were sentenced and held pending part of the high court order.

“And, if they knew the three men were transferred from Horizon, they should have known that they were sentenced prisoners and should have been detained as such,” he said.

But Nxumalo told Daily Maverick everything was above board when the trio entered Pollsmoor.

“Their admission and movement into custody followed all established legal protocols,” he said.

It was after admission to Pollsmoor’s remand section that Du Preez was taken to the Blue Downs court in March 2025 “and did not return”.

The same happened with Timmie and Mentoor, with Timmie not returning from the court in September 2024, and Mentoor not returning a few months later, in December.

One of three convicts in prison


Nxumalo explained: “It is important to emphasise that remand detainees are transported to and from court by the [South African Police Service], and DCS received no court orders (J7 warrants) following these appearances instructing continued detention. 

“Without these legal instruments, DCS was not in a position to lawfully detain the individuals beyond their scheduled court appearances.”

Nxumalo added: “Of the three, only Mr Xolani du Preez has since been readmitted to DCS custody, on 22 April 2025, on a separate charge of housebreaking.”

Du Preez was expected to appear in court again on Friday, 23 May. 

Even though Timmie and Mentoor are not in DCS custody, despite their jail sentences not having lapsed, Nxumalo was of the view that prison authorities acted correctly.

“DCS acted within the legal framework at every stage of these individuals’ detention,” he said.

“Their initial admission, court movements and management were all conducted according to due process and in accordance with the documentation provided at the time.”

It is not yet clear if “heads will roll” in this saga, which raises worrying questions about whether convicts meant to be serving prison sentences have been released from jail. DM

Categories:

Tags: