Cape Town - The Department of Correctional Services has severed ties with security company G4S which manages the Mangaung Correctional Centre, the prison from where inmate Thabo Bester escaped last year.
The department plans to take over the management of the prison after 90 days.
Speaking at the meeting of the justice and correctional services portfolio committee on Tuesday, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said his department served the Mangaung Correctional Services with a notice to terminate the contract.
“The notice to terminate follows that the Department of Correctional Services sought legal opinion and it has been deemed that BCC (Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts) is not suitable to continue with the contract,” Lamola said.
Asked to unpack the termination of the contract, Lamola said they received the legal opinion.
This showed systemic challenges they faced with the correctional centre over a number of years.
This included Bester’s prison escape.
“The management contract or concession contract cannot continue in this kind of a format, because, indeed, they are struggling to meet the contractual obligations.
“Therefore, the department has decided, and issued a notice of termination to the Mangaung management company with regards to this matter,” he said.
“We will prefer to leave it there, because it is an area of uncertainty in terms of litigations and so forth, but suffice it to say notice has been served this morning.” Lamola added.
Bester, who was convicted of rape and murder, escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre prison on May 3, last year.
This was after a body believed to be his was burnt in a single cell and a doctor certified Bester dead.
Bester was re-arrested along with his “customary wife” Nandipha Magudumana in Tanzania last month.
Lamola said Bester was incarcerated at the Kgosi Mampuru C-Max Prison and was due to appear in the Bloemfontein magistrates’s court on May 16.
On Monday, two former G4S employees were arrested on a charge of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody and defeating the ends of justice in Bloemfontein.
The arrests brought the number of suspects to eight.
Meanwhile, the law enforcement officials will travel to Malawi to testify in the hearing for the extradition of fugitives Shepard Bushiri and his wife Mary.
Lamola said the Malawi prosecuting authority has been updating South Africa regularly on the matter.
He also said the department would soon announce the way forward regarding the extradition of the Gupta brothers.
“Our extradition request for Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was dismissed base on technicalities and inexplicable reasons.
“I have been in contact with UAE counterpart and met the UAE representative in South Africa and registered our country’s displeasure.
“We will soon announce the way forward with regard this matter upon finalisation of our engagements with the UAE counterparts,” Lamola said.
Cape Times