Mandla Samuel Madonsela, a former SA Air Force sergeant and MK cadre, is alleged to be the prisoner who stabbed Janusz Waluś on Tuesday.

Madonsela is serving a life sentence at Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Tshwane for killing his colleague Lt-Col Authon Dominic Stevens. He also wounded Lt-Col Isak Karan at Thaba Tshwane Air Force College on November 8 in 2007.

Mandonsela was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for the crime.

According to two prison insiders, Madonsela was the alleged inmate who stabbed Waluś with a sharp object in jail on Tuesday. The incident happened just two days before Waluś’s release on parole.

Madonsela is said to have been angry that the group sided with Waluś, saying that they could not be on the same side with the person that killed their comrade. Sowetan understands that after the incident the Madonsela was stabbed by other inmates who came to Waluś's defence.

Madonsela was absorbed into the defence force in 1994 and served for 14 years until being discharged after the shooting, sparked by him being rejected from an Officer Formative Course at the college.

During his bail application at the time, he claimed he was kicked off the course as he was told he was a “redundant k***** who would never serve in any office of the defence force”.

In August 2018, Madonsela went on hunger strike after he was denied permission to attend his sister’s funeral, Sowetan reported at the time. The department said he did not qualify to attend funerals of family members.

Madonsela was also still classified as a maximum security offender because he had only served seven years, department spokesperson Mocheta Monama had said.