Model prisoner sues minister for contempt of court after 22 years behind bars without parole

Tebogo Modise was recommended for parole in 2019 by the National Council of Correctional Services. Yet he has never been granted parole. Photo supplied

• A growing number of prisoners serving life sentences are suing the Minister of Correctional Services for contempt of court for ignoring judgments ordering their release on parole.
• Tebogo Modise has been in prison for 22 years despite being recommended for parole in 2019 and completing all rehabilitation programmes.
• Delays in parole have resulted in many offenders being incarcerated beyond their prescribed minimum period of detention.

Tebogo Modise has spent 22 years behind prison walls. In 2003, at the age of 30, he was sentenced to 25 years for murder.

While his co-accused was released in October 2019, 52-year old Modise has remained behind bars.

Regarded as a model prisoner by his fellow inmates, he was recommended for parole in 2019 by the National Council of Correctional Services, a committee that gives guidance to the Minister of Correctional Services on improving the prison system.

Now, he feels he has little other option than to take legal action. He is suing the minister for contempt of court for ignoring a Gauteng High Court judgment. The judgment ordered the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and the Parole Board to provide valid reasons for his continued incarceration.

Modise’s lawsuit is not an isolated case. Increasingly, offenders are taking DCS to court for offences ranging from human rights violations and inhumane prison conditions to contempt of court for ignoring judgments ordering their release on parole.

The most recent case involves “a lifer” in Leeuwkop prison, Bongani Mashinini. On 29 April, the court ordered his release within 30 days, but DCS tried to overturn the judgment. The DCS’ application for the stay of the April order was dismissed on 15 July.

On 29 July, Mashinini sued Minister Pieter Groenewald for contempt of court. But Judge Elmarie van der Schyff dismissed the lawsuit on 30 July, because the minister was not served in his personal capacity and the Parole Board was not included as a respondent. The judge emphasised the urgency of reaching an agreement to release Mashinini.

Lawyers representing Mashinini say they will reapply for the contempt of court order.

Other contempt of court orders ignored by DCS include an application by Obed Mamogoba, in which the judge ordered his release within ten days of hearing the case on 2 June. The order has been suspended, pending an appeal by the DCS.

Concerned Families for Lifers, a support group for offenders serving life sentences, accuse DCS of flagrantly violating the order.

“These parole delays are depriving lifers of their constitutional rights and the lawsuits are costing South African taxpayers millions,” says the group’s spokesperson, Alice Modise.

Rehabilitation

DCS says the threat and cost of litigation “does not supersede the department’s obligation to the public. Lifers have the right to challenge the decisions made in a court of law,” says Euné Oelofsen, media liaison to the minister.

“Where a lifer has complied with rehabilitative programs and a risk assessment shows that the offender poses little to no risk to society, parole may be granted.”

But this did not happen in Tebogo Modise’s case. During his incarceration, Modise completed all his rehabilitation programmes, earned a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, and certificates in vegetable production and computer literacy. He also established a book club — the Leeuwkop Inmates Reading Association — and became a soccer coach.

In 2021, Modise learned that he had been eligible for parole since 2015 due to two landmark Constitutional Court cases which apply to lifers sentenced before 2004: the Van Vuuren and Van Wyk judgments. In the 2010 Van Vuuren case, the judge ruled that these lifers could be considered for parole after serving 20 years. The 2011 Van Wyk judgment ruled that lifers would also be entitled to an earlier parole date based on a credit system.

Yet human rights organisations have documented the extended delays plaguing the parole system with thousands of lifers sentenced before 2004 languishing in prison, despite being eligible for parole.

In 2021, Modise embarked on a hunger strike in protest against his prolonged incarceration. As punishment, he was denied contact visits from his family, and in 2024 he was transferred from the education section to a unit infamous for drug abuse and fights. He alleges he was repeatedly assaulted by members of the Emergency Support Team and laid criminal charges against them. The docket appears to have disappeared.

DCS refused to comment about Modise’s plight in 2021 Special Assignment TV investigation.

In 2023, he went to court to obtain an order directing DCS to furnish him with all his parole documentation for review within 30 days. The Johannnnesburg High Court ruled in his favour. But Modise, who represented himself, says he was furnished with incorrect documentation.

In 2024, he took the matter again to court but the judge dismissed the case without giving reasons why.

On 23 June 2025, attorney Elias Makgopa, who has acted for several prisoners in contempt of court cases, represented Modise in the Gauteng High Court. The matter was unopposed and the judge ordered DCS and the Parole Board to file reasons, within ten days, for his continued incarceration. They have yet to comply.

“They are trying to break me … but I won’t let them,” Modise recently wrote from Leeuwkop Prison.

He said he has not lost hope “that the law will ultimately hold accountable and bring consequences to those in power who show contempt of court”.

According to Oelofsen, there are no prisoners with life sentences awaiting consideration for parole by the minister as of 6 August. There are 113 that have not been considered by the National Council of Correctional Services yet. These are scheduled to be considered this month and next.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast