Thabo Bester: ‘Difficult for govt to say what G4S is not complying with’

Despite the department of correctional services (DCS) announcing a new manager for Mangaung prison, calls to terminate the G4S contract have increased, following questions whether this change is enough to stop a decade of accusations of brutality and corruption at the prison.

The crescendo of questions follow the escape of killer and rapist Thabo Bester last year, which was only revealed recently.

Following calls to revoke its 25-year contract with G4S, attorney Zac Moselane said the DCS should have issued a notice of termination already and given the private security contractor seven days to address non-compliance.

G4S contract

Moselane said, based on their responsibilities in the contract, this breach could be enough to issue a notice of termination, but “for now, it’s difficult for government to say what G4S is not complying with, otherwise they would have terminated”.

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According to DCS national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale, tampering with surveillance cameras points to a failed monitoring system deliberately orchestrated to conceal crucial evidence and individuals who aided Bester to escape.

Thobakgale said DCS had been having differences with G4S on how to manage the contract.

“That’s why we have what we call a supervisory committee, which assists the responsibility of adjudicating these differences,” he added.

However, Moselane said government was stuck between a rock and a hard place because they have to look at the termination part of the contract and what it entails.

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“They cannot just terminate the contract, despite saying G4S breached responsibility. If it was not mentioned in the contract, they will use it against them,” he said.

Human rights violations

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union’s Richard Mamabolo said the escape, including multiple other misconducts and abuses reported over the years, were a consequence of the DCS outsourcing its state’s security functions to foreign-owned companies.

Cosatu urged the government to cut ties with G4S – “whose record for gross human rights violations speaks volumes”.

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The Cabinet has directed the DCS to “speedily finalise the processes to take over the operations of the two private company-managed correctional facilities and ensure consequence management for everyone involved”.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za