Geordin Hill-Lewis attacked Minister Pieter Groenewald even though he lowered the number of missing parolees

Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, revealed that the number of parole absconders under his watch was significantly reduced.

This shows that DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis’s attack on Groenewald for the high number of missing parolees in South Africa was misguided.

The debacle started after a report by amaBhungane that “27,797 high-risk parolees who have absconded” and cannot be traced by Correctional Services.

Hill-Lewis jumped on this report, attacking Groenewald. “Nearly 28,000 parolees are untraceable. Gone. Missing,” he said.

“Many of these are violent criminals, now walking free, putting the public at risk. Pieter Groenewald must not hide behind excuses.”

“He must act today to find these parolees, bring them back before the law, and hold every official accountable who allowed them to disappear.”

Groenewald responded, explaining that the number of untraceable parolees in South Africa goes back to 1991.

“I am in the process of issuing electronic bracelets for parolees. There is progress. I had a parole summit last September to discuss revisions to the parole system,” he said.

He added that his department is busy with legislative amendments to improve the system. “Don’t practice cheap politics,” he told Hill-Lewis.

Despite Groenewald’s explanation, Hill-Lewis doubled down on the attack on the Correctional Services Minister.

He released a statement and did an interview in which he said: “28,000 offenders have simply disappeared from our parole system”.

“This is an indictment of the Department, and Minister Pieter Groenewald cannot allow this failure to continue on his watch,” he said.

The number of parole absconders declined under Minister Pieter Groenewald

Groenewald told Nuuspod that the attack on him was misguided, as the number of parole absconders has declined under his watch.

Groenewald was appointed as the Minister of Correctional Services of South Africa on 3 July 2024, during the formation of the Government of National Unity.

He explained that during the first meeting under his leadership, on 11 July 2024, there were 31,162 parole absconders.

During the latest meeting on 21 May 2026, shortly before the attack from Hill-Lewis, there were 29,320 parole absconders.

This means that the number of parole absconders has declined significantly during Groenewald’s tenure as minister.

He added that under his leadership, they have located 2,549 parolees who have previously absconded.

Groenewald added that when a parolee absconds, it is a criminal offence. The Department of Correctional Services, therefore, reports it to the police.

It is the South African Police Service’s responsibility to apprehend the absconded parolees and bring them to justice.

To lay the blame at the Department of Correctional Services for the high number of parolees who are missing is misguided.

However, in August 2024, under his watch, Correctional Services improved tracking parole absconders.

The department established an updated internal review procedure to proactively deploy its own intelligence-driven tracking teams alongside the police.

Because parole officers are assigned to specific areas across the country’s 446 branch offices, they use community networks to find the parolees.

The collaboration with the police and community tracking operations has been highly effective in limiting the problem.