# The Department of Correctional Services cannot account for 27-thousand-797 high-risk parolees who have absconded, including offenders convicted of serious crimes of murder, rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery. An AmaBhungane investigation reveals that 15-thousand-860 are archived absconders, parolees who were released between 1991 and 2004 and whom the state has failed to trace and rearrest. Gauteng has the highest number of absconders with nine-thousand-355. The department’s spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, says they maintain a results-driven tracking and tracing capability and continue to successfully return absconded parolees to the correctional system.
South Africa’s correctional system cannot account for nearly 28,000 absconded parolees