Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza was speaking during a round-table discussion about Bester’s escape. Bester was allegedly helped by officials from the maximum facility.
Bester was arrested during the Easter weekend, alongside girlfriend Magudumana, in Tanzania and was brought back to the country in a chartered plane last week.
He is now being held at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Facility in Pretoria.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza yesteron Wednesday provided an overview of the union’s visit to the Mangaung prison, including the treatment its members were subjected to by security company G4S. “We went there to find out what really happened. We had members who are G4S [employees] and we also wanted to go to get an understanding of their feelings [regarding the escape].
“We got information from them that the Bester escape took place while some of them were not at work but with others knowing what was happening who were kept in abeyance by authorities. It was something that was well-planned,” he said.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza confirmed reports that Bester received preferential treatment while serving his sentence, including an incident that saw Bester address a sham media event from prison in 2018.
Last month, a video emerged showing Bester laughing uncontrollably from his prison cell and dressed in a suit while live-streaming the launch of the bogus company 21st Century Media that he set up with businesswoman Phumudzo Thenga, who was allegedly also hoodwinked by him.
He said these revelations by its members alarmed union leaders and reinforced their 2015 call for private prison contracts to be scrapped. “It has been our position from the beginning that private prisons are not going to work in our environment because they are very selective in how safe incarcerated prisoners are,” Cebekhulu-Makhaza said.
“The contract as it was introduced to us, [spoke about] comparative studies that they’d done abroad that [claimed that] private prisons are going to do well ... in unleashing rehabilitation programmes. But there’s no product at the end of the day. The only thing we see is that resources of input are escalating but there’s nothing in return,” he said.
On the calls for Lamola to step down over the department’s handling of Bester’s escape, Cebekhulu-Makhaza said those making the calls were merely shifting the blame because the failure of oversight extended beyond the department.
Lamola has indicated that he will not resign.
“Everyone blames the next person. In the whole matter, people are shifting blame. Correctional services did not oversee the operations of Mangaung Correctional Centre but the portfolio committee has a responsibility also of oversight. They are not exempt from this [and] can’t stand on the other side.
“How many times did they visit those prisons ... so it can’t be them who say ‘this one must go’. I would say the government is ineffective, don’t just say individuals, the whole government is ineffective,” he told the discussion.
ratsatsik@sowetan.co.za
Another G4S guard arrested for Bester's escape
Warden nabbed while on duty at Mangaung prison
Image: Thapelo Morebudi
A 51-year-old G4S employee is set to appear at the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court in connection with murderer and rapist Thabo Bester’s escape case.
This is the fifth person to be arrested in connection with the daring escape in May 2022.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said the security guard was arrested at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State, while on duty on Tuesday.
Mathe said the man has been charged with assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody and defeating the ends of justice. He is expected to appear in court toon Thursday.
The arrest was effected a day after four other accused – Dr Nandipha Magudumana, her father Zolile Sekeleni, technician Teboho Lipholo and former G4S security guard Senohe Motsoara – appeared in court on various charges.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has added it’s voice to calls for justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola to resign over the department’s poor handling of the Bester saga is an act of “shifting the blame”. The union also repeated its call for private prisons contracts to be scrapped.
Popcru says calls for Lamola to resign over Bester saga ‘shift the blame’
Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza was speaking during a round-table discussion about Bester’s escape. Bester was allegedly helped by officials from the maximum facility.
Bester was arrested during the Easter weekend, alongside girlfriend Magudumana, in Tanzania and was brought back to the country in a chartered plane last week.
He is now being held at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Facility in Pretoria.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza yesteron Wednesday provided an overview of the union’s visit to the Mangaung prison, including the treatment its members were subjected to by security company G4S. “We went there to find out what really happened. We had members who are G4S [employees] and we also wanted to go to get an understanding of their feelings [regarding the escape].
“We got information from them that the Bester escape took place while some of them were not at work but with others knowing what was happening who were kept in abeyance by authorities. It was something that was well-planned,” he said.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza confirmed reports that Bester received preferential treatment while serving his sentence, including an incident that saw Bester address a sham media event from prison in 2018.
Last month, a video emerged showing Bester laughing uncontrollably from his prison cell and dressed in a suit while live-streaming the launch of the bogus company 21st Century Media that he set up with businesswoman Phumudzo Thenga, who was allegedly also hoodwinked by him.
He said these revelations by its members alarmed union leaders and reinforced their 2015 call for private prison contracts to be scrapped. “It has been our position from the beginning that private prisons are not going to work in our environment because they are very selective in how safe incarcerated prisoners are,” Cebekhulu-Makhaza said.
“The contract as it was introduced to us, [spoke about] comparative studies that they’d done abroad that [claimed that] private prisons are going to do well ... in unleashing rehabilitation programmes. But there’s no product at the end of the day. The only thing we see is that resources of input are escalating but there’s nothing in return,” he said.
On the calls for Lamola to step down over the department’s handling of Bester’s escape, Cebekhulu-Makhaza said those making the calls were merely shifting the blame because the failure of oversight extended beyond the department.
Lamola has indicated that he will not resign.
“Everyone blames the next person. In the whole matter, people are shifting blame. Correctional services did not oversee the operations of Mangaung Correctional Centre but the portfolio committee has a responsibility also of oversight. They are not exempt from this [and] can’t stand on the other side.
“How many times did they visit those prisons ... so it can’t be them who say ‘this one must go’. I would say the government is ineffective, don’t just say individuals, the whole government is ineffective,” he told the discussion.
ratsatsik@sowetan.co.za
Opportunistic reporting on Lamola's comments regarding G4S regrettable: correctional services
SOWETAN | G4S contract must bite the dust
Lamola says he won't resign over Thabo Bester saga, explains why R2.5bn G4S contract won't be canned
Bester made ‘huge’ amounts of money in prison — Justice Cameron
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