The DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach expressed “deep concern” and disappointment over Lamola, his department and G4S’s handling of the matter.
“The case of Thabo Bester, who was granted parole by Correctional Services and then went on to commit numerous violent crimes, is a tragic example of the failure of our criminal justice system,” said Breytenbach. “It is a failure that has cost innocent lives and brought grief to families and communities and shines a glaring light on our inability to address gender-based violence in South Africa.”
Breytenbach said the failure was not just about Bester, but it was also about the department of correctional services and G4S, who were responsible for his supervision and monitoring.
“It is clear that both these institutions have failed in their duty to protect the public.”
G4S, the private company responsible for the monitoring of Bester, failed to detect his criminal behaviour and prevent him from committing more crimes. This failure is a clear indication of the lack of supervision of the company's employees,” said Breytenbach.
The EFF’s Yoliswa Yako criticised the correctional system as characterised by corruption, overcrowding, an unhealthy environment for both correctional services officials and inmates and other conditions conducive for rife gangsterism.
Yako said the Bester issue was therefore not an aberration, but an inevitable outcome of a system that is “thoroughly rotten”.
She described the department’s human resource system as “completely rotten”, saying there was no proper human resource management system in the department.
“There is no safety for prisoners and officers alike, and this is demonstrated by how Thabo Bester was classified as dead and the role of those tasked with guarding him in facilitating his escape.”
She said for years, Lamola had “arrogantly” defended the decision to outsource the management of prisons to private entities as was the case in Mangaung.
“When we asked, we were fully conscious of the prison industrial complex that has turned the lives of poor black men in particular into commodities that could be dispensed with at will to make money for capital.
“A life was lost in Mangaung, and his body was criminally used to let a rapist and a murderer out of jail. This was facilitated by the private entity that the minister had defended for years.”
TimesLIVE
Fewer than 1% of inmates escaped from jail in past financial year — Ronald Lamola
Image: Thulani Mbele
Fewer than 1% of inmates escaped from SA prisons in the past financial year.
This is according to justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola who told parliament that from April 2022 until March 2023, out of an inmate population of 157,056, a total of 27 inmates escaped, which represented 0.017%.
“We do acknowledge that one escape from lawful custody is one too many, and we continue to work towards strengthening our security and adherence to standard operating procedures,” he said. “I want to focus on the humane and secure incarceration of inmates, noting that the department has been in the news after the escape by the notorious inmate Thabo Bester. I want to assure this house, and South Africans at large, that we do not have porous correctional centres synonymous with escapes,” said Lamola.
He was delivering the department’s budget vote in parliament on Thursday, just weeks after the Tanzanian police nabbed Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer who escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May last year.
Lamola reiterated the government’s decision to terminate the concession contract with Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC) which subcontracted G4S to run the maximum-security prison in Mangaung. The 25-year contract was set to end in 2026.
The minister said a termination notice for 90 days was served, and the takeover processes was under way with necessary urgency.
This means that Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) will be part of the correctional services department's portfolio in about two months, while Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Limpopo will be taken over in 2027, he said.
The takeover work streams have factored both Mangaung and Kutama in their planning. This, Lamola said, will ensure a seamless transition, and some of the lessons learnt with MCC will be critical towards the operations.
The department’s budget for 2023/2024 is R26bn.
While opposition MPs spoke in detail about overcrowding and corruption in correctional services, the Thabo Bester saga took centre stage.
The DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach expressed “deep concern” and disappointment over Lamola, his department and G4S’s handling of the matter.
“The case of Thabo Bester, who was granted parole by Correctional Services and then went on to commit numerous violent crimes, is a tragic example of the failure of our criminal justice system,” said Breytenbach. “It is a failure that has cost innocent lives and brought grief to families and communities and shines a glaring light on our inability to address gender-based violence in South Africa.”
Breytenbach said the failure was not just about Bester, but it was also about the department of correctional services and G4S, who were responsible for his supervision and monitoring.
“It is clear that both these institutions have failed in their duty to protect the public.”
G4S, the private company responsible for the monitoring of Bester, failed to detect his criminal behaviour and prevent him from committing more crimes. This failure is a clear indication of the lack of supervision of the company's employees,” said Breytenbach.
The EFF’s Yoliswa Yako criticised the correctional system as characterised by corruption, overcrowding, an unhealthy environment for both correctional services officials and inmates and other conditions conducive for rife gangsterism.
Yako said the Bester issue was therefore not an aberration, but an inevitable outcome of a system that is “thoroughly rotten”.
She described the department’s human resource system as “completely rotten”, saying there was no proper human resource management system in the department.
“There is no safety for prisoners and officers alike, and this is demonstrated by how Thabo Bester was classified as dead and the role of those tasked with guarding him in facilitating his escape.”
She said for years, Lamola had “arrogantly” defended the decision to outsource the management of prisons to private entities as was the case in Mangaung.
“When we asked, we were fully conscious of the prison industrial complex that has turned the lives of poor black men in particular into commodities that could be dispensed with at will to make money for capital.
“A life was lost in Mangaung, and his body was criminally used to let a rapist and a murderer out of jail. This was facilitated by the private entity that the minister had defended for years.”
TimesLIVE
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