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Mangaung prison management taken over

"Our last interaction with a senior representative of [the security company] G4S convinced my team and me that the contractor has effectively lost control of the facility," said acting national commissioner Nontsikelelo Jolingana.

The correctional services department took over the management of the privately run maximum security Mangaung prison outside Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

"Our last interaction with a senior representative of [the security company] G4S convinced my team and me that the contractor has effectively lost control of the facility," said acting national commissioner Nontsikelelo Jolingana.

She and a senior management team from the department visited the prison on Wednesday morning and informed the management, staff, and inmates about the change.

A special management team, under the leadership of Gauteng correctional services deputy commissioner Zacharia Modise, would run the facility in the meantime.

Jolingana said the intervention was made under the Correctional Services Act, in terms of which G4S was obliged to co-operate, and offer its support during the intervention, she said.

One of the main reasons for the intervention was a concern for the safety of inmates and staff.

G4S recently dismissed 330 staff, all of them members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), after they refused to return to work at the prison following a strike.

During the strike the facility, which houses nearly 2000 inmates, was run with limited staff.

A riot broke out, various staff members were stabbed, and a woman warder was taken hostage by inmates for 13 hours. The police's special task force rescued her unharmed. The four inmates who held her hostage were arrested.

Jolingana said the department decided to intervene after G4S allegedly admitted it was using uncertified staff to do the job of the fired workers.

Under the act, uncertified workers were not allowed to handle equipment such as firearms and prison keys.

Jolingana said Modise's team of 10 senior managers had to have a contingency plan ready by Friday.

She said the department would probably reinforce the current G4S staff at Mangaung to normalise the situation.

More details would follow after Friday's report.

The commissioner said G4S's contract had not been terminated, and the intervention would last until the situation was back to normal.

G4S runs the prison, one of two privately run South African prisons, in terms of a contract with the department. The 25-year contract reached its halfway mark this year.

The department's chief deputy commissioner for human resources Teboho Mokoena said it could not comment on the labour dispute between Popcru and G4S. He said the matter was currently before a court for a decision.

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