‘No free lunch’: Mashaba vows for productive prisons under ActionSA rule

ActionSA leader has vowed that once his party comes to power, it will dismantle the correctional services system, integrating them with labour detention centres for hardened criminals.

Mashaba said prisoners in South Africa had it too easy, vowing that he would push for a system whereby the prisoners would work for themselves, rather than enjoying free access to television and meals from the State.

He said only those held for minor criminal offenders would be subject to the corrective practises, while he also said he would want to scrap the parole system.

Mashaba also South Africa continues to bear the brunt of illegal migration due to porous borders. 

Illegal immigration and border-related crimes are rife throughout the year, particularly during holidays.

The Department of Home Affairs recently introduced advanced technology at the country’s borders ahead of the Easter weekend. 

The department has previously unveiled a fleet of drones and 40 body-worn cameras to be deployed by the Border Management Authority to improve border security and curb corruption.

However, porous borders remain a major challenge. 

South Africa shares borders with Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. 

These borders have long faced issues such as illegal migration, cross-border crime, and delays at ports of entry - exacerbated by corruption, ageing infrastructure, and inadequate security.

In a sit-down interview with IOL News in Johannesburg this week, Mashaba said undocumented immigration is a global issue, not one confined to Africa.

“Well, they are flying in as well - from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, everywhere else,” he said. 

“You see, the mistake South Africans make when we talk about illegal foreigners is that, for some reason, we think they only come from the continent. Yes, because of our proximity to Zimbabwe and Zambia, we will have more of them, but we are sitting with a massive challenge from Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Europeans, and even people from the United States.”

Mashaba said the country must adopt a tougher stance.

“When people come into our country illegally, there must be serious consequences,” he said.

ActionSA, which was founded in 2020, has been vocal about illegal immigration, calling for mass deportations. 

Other parties such as the Patriotic Alliance and the IFP have also supported deportation of undocumented migrants.

Mashaba said that under an ActionSA government, there would be more prisons to deal with “hardened immigrant prisoners.”

“I’m a strong believer that under ActionSA, when you get arrested, don’t tell me about correctional services,” he said. 

“We will have the Department of Correctional Services for the madam who steals bread, but for hardened criminals bringing drugs into our country or counterfeit goods, or who murder and rape, we will have prisons for them - hard life, hard knocks.”

He said such inmates would work to atone for their crimes through farming, food production and furniture making, rather than receiving free meals and entertainment.

“You will produce food, build bridges and houses, and we’ll show the nation the productivity of those prisoners as their payback to society,” Mashaba said. 

“Those who think they can bypass the system will work seven days a week.”

However, speaking with IOL News immigration expert Professor Loren Landau from Wits University criticised Mashaba’s comments, warning that they promote dangerous scapegoating.

“What Mashaba is outlining are parallel systems of membership in society and justice. Immigrants are human. Some commit crimes, but data continually demonstrates that they do so at a lower rate than the South Africans they live among,” Landau said.

He added that creating separate justice systems for immigrants would be unconstitutional and expensive.

“Our problems are not about immigration but about effective policing and accountable institutions. Creating any justice system outside the normal constitutional system is illegal and undermines the rule of law,” he said.

Last month, KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told the Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee probing the allegations of corruption and interference in the justice system that prisoners live better than many ordinary South Africans. 

He said it costs the state about R500 a day to care for each prisoner, while poor citizens outside survive on a R350 monthly social grant.

Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said in June 2025 that the department has allocated R1.2 billion for prisoner food in the 2025 and 2026 financial year, compared with R1.4 billion in 2023 and 2024 and R1.5 billion in 2024 and 2025.

In its 2025–2030 strategic plan, the department lists food provision as one of its top four cost drivers, after staff compensation, property payments and public-private partnerships. 

Groenewald said prisoners would increasingly produce food for themselves to help redirect funds to other essential programmes.

As of May 4, there were 13,181 sentenced foreign nationals in South African prisons, costing the state about R6 million per day. 

Groenewald said foreign nationals are not held separately and that no bilateral agreements exist for their transfer to serve sentences in their home countries.

Meanwhile, Mashaba said ActionSA would make prisons more productive and self-sustaining.

“Under ActionSA, we will make money out of you as a prisoner,” he said. 

“There won’t be any free accommodation or free lunch. You’ll work on farms to feed the nation - and yourself. The bed you sleep on will come from the proceeds of your labour.”

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL Politics