Thabo Bester ‘escape’: Government might consider ending G4S contract after investigation

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola was on Friday tight-lipped on whether government will end its contract with G4S, the security company that runs the prison that Facebook rapist Thabo Bester allegedly escaped from.

‘Private-public partnership’

Speaking on the sidelines of the Constitutional conference in Midrand, Lamola said the Department of Correctional Services along with the police are conducting tests on the corpse believed to be Bester.

“There has been an investigation that is ongoing on the matter [looking] into the DNA and also all the leads,” he said on Friday.

The minister, however, said he preferred not to give any details on the matter because “it has got the possibility to ruin the investigation that is ongoing”.

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“We will speak on the matter when whole process is concluded and inform the public [on] what is the outcome of the investigation, what are the steps that are going to be taken, what are the remedies that are out there between ourselves as Correctional Services and South African Police Service [Saps], including G4S Security which is a company is running that facility because as you are aware it’s unique in terms of private-public partnership.

“So we are looking at all those issues and at the right time we will be able to inform the nation on the way forward,” Lamola said.

“Obviously you may not have timeframes with regards to investigations… it’s better to give them a life of their own, however, what we can assure the public is that we are aware of the urgency because if indeed such a thing happened, it undermines the authority of the state.

“It also affects the whole Correctional Services Act and the issue of restoring law and order so that people feel safe and free. We understand that urgency and within reasonable time we will be able to say this is the finding.”

Asked whether the department would consider ending its relationship with G4S, Lamola reiterated that a decision will be informed by the outcome of the investigation.

‘Unnatural death cases’

It emerged recently that Bester could be alive despite being declared dead by the Department of Correctional Services after a body was found in a prison at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022.

Bester, who was convicted in 2012 for rape and murder, was spotted at a Woolworths in Sandton City nearly two months after his reported death in prison.

The official version was that Bester set himself alight in his cell.

According to GroundUp, the body found found in Bester’s prison cell was dead before the fire broke out.

READ MORE: Thabo Bester saga: Prison department denies it has autopsy report. Here it is!

Last week, Police Minister Bheki Cele indicated that DNA results have seemingly confirmed that the body did not match that of Bester.

It was also revealed that Justice and Correctional Services Deputy Minister, Phathekile Holomisa, was informed, via email, by a prison warder that Bester had help when he allegedly escaped.

Meanwhile, the Department of Correctional Services pointed out that an autopsy report on Bester’s alleged death has not been tabled yet.

“A burnt body meant that this case could not be classified as a natural death, hence, an investigation needed to be undertaken in order to determine the cause of death. This is a standard practice for all unnatural death cases in correctional facilities,” the department’s spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said in a statement.