President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a new training academy at Drakenstein Correctional Facility on Wednesday, marking 36 years since Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. The Nelson Mandela Rules Training Academy is the first facility in Africa dedicated exclusively to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
The event, held at the historic prison where Mandela was once incarcerated, underscores South Africa’s commitment to advancing prison reform. The academy will serve as a centre for educating correctional officials on the Nelson Mandela Rules, a comprehensive set of international guidelines adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. These rules promote dignity, fairness, and humane treatment for all persons deprived of their liberty, representing a global consensus on minimum standards.
Jane Marie Ong’olo, Regional Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlighted the direct link between Mandela’s experience and the rules bearing his name. “Nelson Mandela himself spent more than 27 years in prison and throughout his life he remained such a powerful advocate for fairness, justice and humane treatment of all people,” she stated. “His legacy lives on through the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners.” The UNODC supports the academy’s establishment as part of its global mandate to promote these standards.
President Ramaphosa positioned the academy as a regional and global resource. “I am told this is the first such facility of its kind on the African continent,” he said, describing it as a knowledge hub. Its curriculum will focus on practical training in areas such as prisoner intake, healthcare, discipline, and rehabilitation. A core objective is shifting the correctional system toward rehabilitation, offering inmates education, skills development, and personal growth programmes aimed at successful reintegration into society. This aligns with Mandela’s enduring values of restorative justice and human dignity.
The launch on the anniversary of Mandela’s 1990 walk to freedom from Victor Verster Prison, as Drakenstein was then known, was symbolically significant. The facility itself is a tangible link to South Africa’s apartheid-era history and its subsequent democratic transition.
The academy’s creation addresses a critical need. Many African correctional systems face challenges of overcrowding and under-resourcing, often far from international best practices. By institutionalising training on the Nelson Mandela Rules, South Africa aims to set a continental benchmark. The initiative also fulfils a commitment made during South Africa’s tenure as a UN Human Rights Council member to promote the rules globally.
Moving forward, the academy will collaborate with regional partners, the UNODC, and civil society organisations. Its long-term success will depend on sustained funding and political will to translate training into systemic change within prisons. For inmates, particularly those serving long-term sentences, the focus on personal development represents a shift from pure punishment toward meaningful rehabilitation.
The new centre thus embodies a practical legacy of Mandela’s ordeal—transforming the memory of incarceration into a framework for more humane, just, and effective corrections systems across Africa and beyond.
