Correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald wants inmates to grow food, make clothing, bake bread and work in factories to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of rand and promote rehabilitation.

“All [prison] uniforms are produced by inmates. All the furniture in my offices — Cape Town and Pretoria — has been manufactured by inmates, so it's much cheaper,” Groenewald said.

Though the furniture predates his appointment in 2024, Groenewald believes it reflects the sort of cost-cutting, skills-development approach he wants to entrench and expand throughout the prisons system.