By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Security company G4S confirmed that all Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC) issued to them through the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) have been terminated.
In a statement, a G4S South Africa spokesperson said they noted the notice of termination.
“G4S South Africa notes that the Department of Correctional Services has issued a notice of termination to Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts, a private company that has held the contract to manage the Mangaung Correctional Centre since 2000,” a company said.
“G4S South Africa holds a non-controlling minority investment in BCC and on 22 November 2019 announced that upon expiry of BCC’s contract to manage MCC, G4S would no longer be investing in correctional services in South Africa. G4S is committed to investment in South Africa but it remains G4S’s firm intention to discontinue all investment in correctional services in South Africa.”
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services (DCS) Ronald Lamola announced on Tuesday that his department has served G4S with a notice to terminate its contract.
The contract was set to expire in 2026.
The decision to terminate the contract with G4S follows the escape saga of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester.
Bester escaped from the maximum-security prison in May last year by faking his own death.
He was assisted by employees at the prison and Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
Bester was rearrested along with Magudumana in Tanzania last month.
G4S, a multinational security company based in London, operates private prisons across the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in Copenhagen. G4S says it is active in about 100 countries and has more than 585,000 employees, including 10 000 in South Africa.
The company is known in South Africa for its private security services and cash-in-transit vehicles.
South Africa has two private prisons. In the late 1990s, private prisons were seen as a solution to some of the operational challenges faced by the DCS. Contracts were awarded and the prisons were to be handed over to the government after 25 years.
The Mangaung Correctional Centre, opened in 2001, is operated and partly owned by G4S through a South African subsidiary.