Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola during a press briefing in Pretoria on 16 March 2020. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The Department of Correctional Services has resolved to end its contract with Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), which runs the prison that Thabo Bester escaped from.
Appearing before Parliament on Tuesday, Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Ronald Lamola, confirmed that BCC has been served with a notice to terminate the contract of managing the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Lamola said his department has already started internal processes to take over the running of the facility.
“Indeed we have received legal opinion which showed that the systematic challenges that were faced with the Mangaung Correctional Centre over a number of years, including the last one with regards to the escapes, point to the fact that the management contract cannot continue in this kind of format because they are struggling to meet the contractual obligations,” he told the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services.
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“Therefore, the department has decided and issued a notice of termination to Mangaung management company with regards to this matter. We will prefer to leave it there because it’s an area of uncertainty in terms of issues of litigation and so forth, but suffice to say that notice has been served this morning.”
British multinational private security company, G4S, is one of BCC’s shareholders.
The contract between government G4S/BCC was valued around R45 million every month to manage the Mangaung prison.
The 25-year tender was expected to end in 2026.
The Citizen previously reported that Mangaung mayor Itumeleng John ‘Papi’ Mokoena and his brother, Lebohang Joseph are directors of BCC.
G4S’s head office in Centurion has been listed as BCC’s physical address.
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 prion 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, who was arrested in Tanzania last month, will return to the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 16 May.
On Tuesday, 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.
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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.
Meanwhile, National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale has indicated that two more officials will be placed on suspension.
Additional reporting by Getrude Makhafola
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