By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The department of correctional services (DCS) has decided to terminate its contract with the private security company G4S that was in charge of running the Mangaung correctional centre following the daring escape of convicted murderer Thabo Bester.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola says that his department had served a notice to prisons contractor, G4S, for the termination of its contract to run the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Lamola was addressing Parliament’s justice committee about his department’s annual performance and budget on Tuesday morning.
“In line with its concession agreement with BCC, a 90-day termination notice has been issued to the subcontractor. Thereafter the contract will cease to operate, according to the statement.
Last month, the department announced it was seeking a legal opinion regarding its contract with BCC, which was ultimately deemed “neither competent, nor suitable to continue with the concession contract”.
In 1998, G4S South Africa became a minority shareholder in BCC, the concessionaire company responsible for the management of the Mangaung Correctional Centre, which has most recently gained added notoriety following Bester’s escape in May 2022.
In March 2000, the department entered into a 25-year contract with BCC to design, construct, operate, maintain and finance Mangaung prison. BCC commenced operations at Mangaung in July 2001. The contract was set to expire on 30 June 2026, after which G4S has previously said it has no plans to invest further in correctional services in South Africa.
Last month, the department told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice that the government had — since its contract commenced with G4S up to 2022 — paid the company over R7.7 billion to manage Mangaung, as well as the Kutama Sinthumule correctional centre in Louis Trichardt, Limpopo.
It cost the state R45 million a month to maintain the contract with G4S. The two private centres have a total of 5 952 inmates, 2 928 of them at Mangaung prison.
Bester, who was convicted in 2012, escaped from the Mangaung prision on 3 May last year, after a fire that broke out in his cell.
The convicted rapist and murderer was believed to have died in the blaze, but it was later confirmed that the body found in the prison cell was not Bester.
Eight suspects in total have been arrested in connection to Bester’s escape include his girlfriend – celebrity aesthetics doctor Nandipha Magudumana, her father – Zolile Sekeleni, and Integritron Integrated Solutions employee – Teboho Lipholo.
Bester, was re-arrested in Tanzania last month, is expected to appear at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 16 May.
Lamola also informed Parliament that just over 20 inmates have escaped from prions across the country in the past year.
“In 2021/2022 financial year, we had 22 escapes from a total of 143 223 inmates. We are the first to acknowledge that one escape at our facilities is one too many. We will redouble our security operations to prevent escapes and deal harshly with officials who fail to adhere to standard operating procedures.”
Lamola further revealed that one of the inmates who escaped from the Ngqeleni Correctional Centre in the Eastern Cape last week has since been recaptured.
He told the committee that eight Correctional Service officials have been suspended.
“They will undergo disciplinary processes,” Lamola said.
Two convicted rapists, Siyabulela Khohliso and Athini Nothi, also escaped from the prison’s sports field last week Thursday.
Khohliso has been transferred to Mthatha Correctional Centre after he was caught in the Libode area.