The suspended KwaZulu-Natal correctional services commissioner is expected to appear in court today on charges dating back more than two decades, amid claims that he was targeted for exposing alleged corruption.
Mnikelwa Nxele, who was suspended from his position as KwaZulu-Natal Correctional Services Commissioner in May last year, was arrested on Tuesday by the NPA’s anti-corruption unit on charges of fraud and money laundering relating to alleged offences dating back to 2004.
Nxele has maintained that his suspension and the charges against him are retribution for exposing alleged corruption within the Department of Correctional Services. He previously claimed he was being punished for blowing the whistle on allegedly inflated prison food supply contracts, which he said involved National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale.
The Department of Correctional Services has rejected those claims, stating that the suspended commissioner was attempting to deflect attention from his own disciplinary matters.
The arrest comes as the Special Investigating Unit continues to probe procurement irregularities within the department, with growing scrutiny over the cost of prison food contracts.
