Namibia is waiting for South Africa to pass crucial enabling legislation, expected by mid-2027, to facilitate the mutual transfer of sentenced prisoners between the two countries.
Commissioner general of the Namibian Correctional Service Raphael Hamunyela on Sunday said Namibia has finalised the agreement and is waiting for South Africa (SA) to pass the law.
“South Africa currently does not have a law to transfer inmates to Namibia, and they cannot enter into such an agreement yet. They first need to have a law in their country for the transfer of sentenced offenders between two countries to happen.
“In Namibia, we have already finalised the decision, but for this transfer to work, South Africa should have a domestic law that will allow both countries to transfer sentenced offenders,” he said.
This comes after the South African government announced in a statement on its website on Friday that its ministry of correctional services has signed an agreement on cooperation in correctional services with Namibia to advance the interstate transfer of sentenced offenders, while building on the recent agreement concluded with Botswana.
“Transfers will, however, only become possible once the necessary enabling legislation is in place. The [recent] binational commission undertook that the South African legislative enabling tool is to be concluded by mid-2027.
“To this end, proposed amendments to the Correctional Services Act have been drafted and are currently before the National Council for Correctional Services for comment and input, after which the formal parliamentary process will commence,” the ministry says.
SA’s minister of correctional services, Pieter Groenewald, and Namibia’s minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security, Lucia Iipumbu, signed the agreement during the fourth session of the South Africa-Namibia Binational Commission.
The agreement establishes a framework for technical cooperation between SA’s department of correctional services and the Namibian Correctional Service across several areas.
“Engagements with foreign nationals in the correctional system indicate that many prefer to serve their sentences in their countries of origin, as family and community support are integral parts of rehabilitation.
“A subsequent reduction in the offender population benefits South Africa by easing budgetary pressure associated with incarceration costs,” the ministry says.
Hamunyela on Sunday said an agreement was also signed on cooperation in different areas, such as training, the exchange of best practices and benchmarking resources, but does not include the transfer of sentenced inmates.
“The agreement will assist both countries in exchanging knowledge and training as part of the collaboration,” he said.
Namibia already has prisoner transfer arrangements with Angola and Botswana, while the newly signed agreement with South Africa is intended to establish a similar framework once the necessary legislation is in place.
The Namibian previously reported that 69 Namibian citizens are detained in foreign prisons in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), where they are serving sentences for different offences, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security.
The ministry says about 465 foreign nationals are currently detained in Namibian prisons, contributing to overcrowding in correctional facilities as of 17 February.
Of those, 450 are from the SADC region and 15 from other countries.
