ANC Youth League bids for private prisons

ANC Youth League bids for private prisons

By Norm Dixon

The African National Congress Youth League has put a new spin on the slogan "From the politics of liberation to the politics of reconstruction".

According to the November 8 Johannesburg Star, the ANCYL is bidding for a multimillion-rand contract to operate two private prisons, including an Orwellian-titled "youth development facility" in the eastern Mpumalanga province.

ANC MP Andries Nel told the government's correctional services committee that the ANC Youth League's trade and investment company is part of a consortium bidding for the projects.

Under South Africa's new Correctional Services Amendment Act, private contractors can be appointed to finance, design, build and run four prisons as part of a pilot project. Each private prison could generate up to 50 million rand (US$10 million) annually over 25 years.

South Africa's prisons are filled to more than double their capacity. The government has approved a plan to house convicts on ships anchored off the coast and has floated proposals for inner-city Johannesburg office towers and abandoned gold mines to be converted into jails.

From GLW issue 298