Kutama Sinthumule prison beefs up security after fire breaks out

Inmates at the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional facility in Makhado, Limpopo, have been moved to a safe zone within the prison after a fire broke out on Monday evening.

According to Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo, emergency services are on site extinguishing fire at Kutama Sinthumule Correctional facility.

“The kitchen, maintenance section and two blocks are currently affected, being the Green and Blue centres,” said Nxumalo.

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“The two centres house a total of 1892 inmates, as 1132 reside at the yellow centre, which is not being affected by the fire at this stage. Inmates are being moved to a safe zone inside the facility.

“Critical at the moment is to protect lives and ensure that the fire is extinguished completely. Security has also been reinforced in order to ensure that the situation is controlled.”

The actual cause of the fire is yet to be stablished, said Nxumalo.

The last time a prison broke out at a South African prison, a charred body was found, and presumed to be that of Facebook rapist Thabo Bester.

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A can of worms was opened after Bester was spotted shopping at a Woolworths in Sandton City, nearly two months after his reported death at the prison.

It was later found that Bester had escaped the Free State Mangaung private prison after faking his own death.

Following his escape from jail on 3 May 2022, a manhunt was launched, which led to his arrest in Tanzania.

An investigation by the Department of Correctional Services later found that the charred body found after a fire broke out at the Free State’s Mangaung private prison was not that of convicted murderer and rapist Bester.

He is currently on trial, along with several other suspects who are accused of aiding his escape from prison, fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

Bester, dubbed the Facebook rapist after a spate of robberies, rape and even murder, was sentenced to 50 years in jail by the Durban Magistrate’s Court in 2011.