No answers on parole release of colonel who supplied Cape gangs with weapons

Cape Town – The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) says it keeps getting stonewalled for explanations on the parole release of former SAPS Colonel Chris Lodewyk Prinsloo, who was released after serving a short stint of an 18-year prison sentence for flooding the Cape Flats with weapons.

Prinsloo had been convicted and sentenced in 2016 on 20 charges ranging from racketeering, corruption and money laundering relating to the smuggling and dealing of lethal weapons worth around R9 million with Cape Town gangsters.

He is said to have been released on parole in April last year.

Popcru’s national spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said their enquiries to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) had been blocked.

“Since our inquiry into the matter, we were promised a response and did a follow-up, but yet, nothing has come up.

’’We will be escalating the matter in seeking the current status of the issue at hand,” said Mamabolo.

Previously, Mamabolo said of the parole release: “Such a decision is a slap in the face to many people who have perished at the hands of gangsters, their families and those committed police officers who have been killed while investigating these syndicates.”

DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo did not answer questions this week on where Prinsloo was in custody while serving his sentence. He would not confirm if Prinsloo was eligible for a parole hearing.

Activist and crime whistle-blower Colin Arendse said he was shocked to hear about Prinsloo’s release on parole.

“I was shocked to hear of the early parole of disgraced police Colonel, Chris Prinsloo as his heinous crime of providing guns to gangsters is linked to more than 1 060 murders and this had a major impact on fuelling the gang violence on the Cape Flats.

“Residents already have to contend with abysmal service delivery which provides a platform for gang-related activities and there is a duty of care on all spheres of government to ensure that we live in an environment free from the daily rigours of utter mayhem and the local politics of organised crime,” said Arendse.

Cape Times