Government is considering cutting ties with UK-based multinational G4S after 23 years of its chaotic management of the Mangaung prison.
Billed at its inception as a state-of-the-art facility and an excellent example of a private-public partnership, the management of the prison has proven to be a huge headache for the department of correctional services (DCS).
Years of violence, torture, riots and the daring escape of Thabo Bester last year have been highly embarrassing for the government.
On Thursday, after mounting pressure, correctional services national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale removed G4S management from the Mangaung Correctional Centre facility. He said the department had referred the contract with G4S for legal advice.
The contract ends in 2026.
“The department of correctional services has referred the concession contract and related documents for legal advice, exploring other remedies available to the department,” said Thobakgale.
He said under the watch of G4S, surveillance cameras were tampered with during Bester’s escape.
“When compounded with the post-mortem and DNA sequencing results, it becomes vividly clear that as correctional services, we are dealing with a well-calculated and organised escape debacle... “Findings of the investigation report clearly reveal that Thabo Bester was assisted to escape from lawful custody, yet the contractor maintains that he died in his cell. This is contrary to overwhelming scientific evidence available...
“This talks to a facility that has compromised its security system beyond any reasonable doubt. Tampering with surveillance cameras points to a failed monitoring system deliberately orchestrated to conceal crucial evidence and individuals who aided Bester to escape. “This is also a failure to guarantee safe custody of inmates and a breach in terms of responsibilities allocated to the contractor,” said Thobakgale.
Earlier in the week, correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said six employees from G4S Emergency Support Team (EST) were suspended while three were dismissed soon after the company held an internal investigation after the fire.
“They (G4S) have been refusing to give us the case file and when we were doing our own investigation into the fire, we were told some workers have either been dismissed or suspended. “We could not get sworn statements from them. “We still don’t know why those guards were disciplined because G4S tells us this is an employer-employee issue.” said Nxumalo.
As far back as 2009, the prison had been a scene of chaos. In August that year, nine offenders went on a hunger strike – for the second time in two weeks. That same year, about 40 inmates set alight 10 cells and three guards were held hostage. The year after that, 114 guards were fired after an illegal strike. In 2012, two inmates held a doctor and a nurse hostage. In 2013, the prison was placed under administration after two weeks of unrest.
Earlier, 300 guards had been fired after a wildcat strike in the facility.
Over the years, allegations of human rights violations had emerged where prison authorities were accused of violence and torture on inmates.
“Failures from the contractor do not exonerate the officials in the employ of the department of correctional services tasked with specific responsibilities to oversee and monitor operations at Mangaung correctional facility, which ought to be in line with the Correctional Services Act and concession contract.
“In this regard, the Director Contract Management based at DCS head office, DCS controller and deputy controller at Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) have been served with suspension notices. As a result, the Departmental Investigation Unit has started looking into the conduct of the officials. Ms Gladys Rantente will now be serving as the DCS controller for MCC,” said Thobakgale.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
