These interviews were insightful insofar as the two personalities shared their experiences regarding the operation of prisons exclusively run by the state as well as those based on a public-private partnership agreement. The day after this visit to Ronald-Lamola, the State Minister for Justice visited the outskirts of the city of Johannesburg (Joburg), the Burksbourg prison, a model of a state-run prison where she was officially received by the leadership staff led by Madam Monica-Makani, the acting director of the institution. After the pleasantries, she was taken through the various activities organized within the prison such as the bakery, carpentry, and farming activities before visiting some of the prison cells to get a sense of the carceral conditions and various related issues.

On the day of Thursday, April 4, 2024, Rose Mutombo Kiese visited the Mangaung prison, a high-security facility in Bloemfontein located more than 400 kilometers from Johannesburg. Key issues discussed included the development activities organized within the establishment to achieve self-sufficiency and those related to the skills that inmates should acquire upon release from prison.

In the context of these different visits, she received in audience, respectively, Mr. T. Paulo, a Zimbabwean businessman and Chairman of the Prevail group, as well as Mr. Mulalo Thabela, a South African national and Chairman of the TEFLA Group. With these two interlocutors, Rose Mutombo had fruitful discussions about the possibility of constructing modern prisons throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is worth noting that the deployment of all these activities by the Congolese State Minister is commendable for addressing not only the pressing issue of the overpopulation of penal institutions in the DRC but also the construction of modern and autonomous prisons that comply with generally accepted standards. Also, Rose Mutombo informed her South African colleague that her ministry has acquired concessions for building prisons in Kinshasa (Menkao), Kongo-Central (Matadi), Kasai-Oriental (Mbuji-Mayi), and others.

This trip to the land of Nelson Mandela was on a mission to visit correctional facilities with professional development and skills acquisition.

GT