Despite all evidence G4S insists Thabo Bester died in fire, Popcru says prove it

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the Free State province has called on police to verify if the man who died in the Mangaung Correctional Facility was Thabo Bester.

This comes after G4S, the multinational company that runs Mangaung Prison insists the man who died at the facility in May last year was Thabo Bester, dubbed the Facebook rapist.

DCS talks with G4S

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said it is in talks with G4S to get to the bottom of what transpired on the day Thabo Bester allegedly died.

Speaking on eNCA, correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said there was no common ground between the correctional services’ findings and those of G4S. 

“We are now engaging with the second leg, in terms of what the contract says when it comes to an escape. The security breaches that we have identified, unfortunately, there is no common ground. We don’t seem to find each other with the contractor (G4S) in terms of our findings and their findings,” said Nxumalo

Bester’s great escape gripped the country’s attention, with new details of his escape coming to light.

ALSO READ: Thabo Bester: Police open murder case against Facebook rapist

Investigations

The public-private partnership between the government and G4S is now under heavy scrutiny with Popcru saying Bester’s escape has left a lot of unanswered questions.

Speaking to The Citizen, Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the details surrounding Bester’s escape is worrying.

“We can no longer rely on internal investigations now because since last year May, there had been internal investigations and there were four people who were charged and the matter was closed.

“So we think that the Department of Correctional Services should get involved as well as the Saps to actually verify whether the body belongs to Mr Bester or not,” Mamabolo said.

Government/G4S partnership under scrutiny

Popcru has also called on the Department of Correctional Services to revoke the 25-year contract it had with G4S to run Mangaung prison, following the brazen escape by Thabo Bester.

“There has been many reports of human rights violations at the very same prison over the years. So, we think that things cannot continue the way they are.

“We think that there is a lot money being spent on private prisons which is around R1 billion on a yearly basis, which could have been used to improve the current correctional centres that we do have which are under the Department of Correctional Services,” Mamabolo said.

Mamabolo said this meant that the department paid more than R400 per prisoner a day.

Profits

The union accused the multinational companies contracted to run the prisons of chasing profits over security, calling for the government to scrap both contracts and take over the facilities.

Murder

On Monday, police said a case of murder had been opened after it emerged that Thabo Bester may have killed someone during his brazen escape from prison.

A manhunt has since been launched to search for the fugitive who was serving a life sentence for murder and rape at the maximum security prison operated by security company G4S.

The Citizen submitted a list of question to G4S via email and contacted the company telephonically, but there was no response at the time of publication.

ALSO READ: Government confirms ‘Facebook rapist’ Thabo Bester did not die in prison fire