JOHANNESBURG - Convicted fraudster Jermain Prim has lost his prison privileges for 42 days following an interview he conducted with eNCA.
The sanction was confirmed by his mother, Bridgette Prim, in an exclusive interview.
She told eNCA the outcome was handed down during a disciplinary hearing held at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Services on Thursday morning.
According to Bridgette, Prim was found guilty under Section 23 of the Correctional Services Act, which deals with disciplinary infringements involving behaviour that threatens security, order, or safety within a facility.
The charges relate to an exclusive interview in which Prim linked Sports, Arts & Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie to drug cartels. The Minister has denied the allegations.
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The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) subsequently launched a full-scale investigation into how Prim was able to call eNCA's Heidi Giokos from prison for the interview.
Bridgette Prim has however strongly criticised the outcome, arguing that due process was not followed.
She confirmed Prim was removed from the Johannesburg Correctional Centre following his now controversial interview and was transferred back to the C-Max section at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility.
“No cell phone, no contraband—nothing was found,” she said.
Bridgette further argued that her son, may not have been aware that he required permission to conduct the interview, but even so, he followed the correct procedures.
“Jermaine had made the call in the presence of the wardens. He did not make the call without their permission. Furthermore, he registered the call in the call log book that they normally register the calls.
“However, he put in brackets friend, instead of Heidi's name because he did not want inmates to know as they are naughty… He didn't want everybody to have Heidi's personal phone number,” she said.
At the centre of the sanctions is Prim’s transfer to the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility, to which Bridgette has expressed fear for her son's safety and wellbeing.
“His life is being threatened. The people that he was whistleblowing on, he's put right back in that same cell, in that same situation where he was taken out of,” she expressed
Brigette has now called for her son to be returned to Johannesburg.
“I've just lost my uncle, he was a father to me, and I can't give that message to my son. Jermaine is no flight risk. He has been moved up and down to prisons. This is a sinister force,” she added.
eNCA reached out to the Department of Correctional Services on the sanctions imposed on Prim.
DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said they could not publicly disclose details of ongoing or internal disciplinary proceedings within the department.
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“These processes are administrative and quasi-judicial in nature, and as such, must be conducted in a manner that safeguards procedural fairness, institutional integrity, and the rights of all parties involved,” he said.
Nxumalo added, “Premature disclosure of such information has the potential to compromise the integrity of the process, influence outcomes, and undermine the rights afforded to the affected individual in terms of due process.”