During a meeting today with representatives from multinational correctional facility management company G4S about the escape of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, members of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services were unconvinced by the theory proposed by G4S that only three officials were responsible for the escape.
This was after the committee heard that 23 officials were on night duty the night the escape occurred and that some seven more officials are being investigated. The three suspended officials are contesting their suspension at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
The committee started its two-day hearing today into Thabo Bester’s escape. The G4S delegation was joined by in the meeting by a strong departmental delegation comprising both Minister Ronald Lamola and Deputy Minister Phathekile Holomisa from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services’s Judge Edwin Cameron, as well as the National Commissioner for Police and Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale.
Committee member Adv Glynnis Breytenbach said the G4S presentation today included nothing that was not already in the public domain and did not assist the committee in any way. “Walking into your facility there is no way three people would pull this through. You’re not telling us what happened and what you have done about it. There is no indication that you accepted any responsibility in this report.”
Adv Breytenbach said according to the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, the officials were suspended so they could not be investigated. The advocate also asked if G4S conducts lifestyle audits on its employees. G4S’s representative in the meeting replied that the company does not consider this necessary, but Adv Breytenbach disagreed with this assessment. G4S then asserted that its human relations division would be better placed to answer such questions.
Adv Breytenbach wanted to know why G4S did not warn the public about Bester’s escape when they became aware of it. G4S’s Mr Cobus Groenewald denied that the company did not take responsibility, and said they could not link individuals to the actual crime. “We do not feel that we are culpable in this. Because of the contract, we were not allowed to talk to the public about the escape.” He said until 25 May 2022, G4S was treating the matter as suicide.
Committee member Ms Yolisa Yako cautioned the Minister Mr Lamola, saying this is what happens when government outsources key functions of the state to private companies. Other members of the committee were concerned to know, among other things, how the fire in Thabo Bester’s cell was set with petrol and matches and asked how these got into the prison.
Sibongile Maputi
12 April 2023
Arrange a tour