Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) president Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza has called on the Department of Correctional Services to immediately terminate its contract with G4S for its failure to meet its service delivery obligations, adding that it is the government’s constitutional responsibility to oversee the care of prisoners.

This comes after serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein and was later arrested in Tanzania with his partner Nandipha Magumudana.

Cebekhulu-Makhaza noted that private prisons were of no help in South Africa, saying they must be brought back into the mainstream, which was under the control of Correctional Services.

“Our wish is for the department to take over management of the prisons, and to start running them like a prison and not like a hotel. We also need to enter into a serious dialogue on how we can deal with issues in our criminal justice system and at prisons without taking shortcuts with private prisons. The challenges in the public sector are well-understood, but South Africa must demand public prisons, which we have control over, rather than private prisons. As Popcru leadership, our position is that all prisons must be controlled by the State,” he said.

However, he noted that Bester’s escape demonstrated that government as a whole had been ineffective in monitoring private prisons, as prison staff had raised numerous concerns of serious irregularities within the institutions.

He emphasised that the Department of Correctional Services and the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services must take the blame for the escape and their failure to perform proper oversight of private prisons.

He went on to explain that the spectacle caused by the Bester matter was an embarrassment to all stakeholders with a connection to the prison system.

“We are putting the blame for the escape squarely on the shoulders of Correctional Services, who have a responsibility to perform oversight regarding compliance at private prisons, and to ensure that the laws of this country are being adhered to,” he said.

POOR WORKING CONDITIONS

He highlighted that during a recent fact-finding mission at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, the prison run by security firm G4S, Popcru’s leadership discovered that Bester was not the first prisoner who had escaped from the facility.

Additionally, Popcru uncovered poor working conditions at the prison, with just one prison official for every 60 inmates.

It further received multiple allegations of victimisation, breaches of labour law, and warnings aimed at preventing employees from speaking out. 

Cebekhulu-Makhaza explained that private prison companies were not interested in prisoner rehabilitation – they were only interested in making a profit.

“They were not prepared to employ more people to do the work needed. The department has paid the companies more and more money, and yet is receiving nothing in return. Furthermore, G4S is offering no assistance in as far as finding out what happened during the escape, or in solving the problem or assisting in the investigation – they are too focused on keeping their contract intact. Even their responses to the portfolio committee have not assisted, except to continue to conceal secrets,” he said.

He stated that serious questions remained, and that Popcru would not hesitate to confront the department if these questions remained unanswered following the investigation into the Bester escape.

In addition to questions about the body found in Bester’s cell, Popcru had also raised concerns regarding the prison contracts awarded to firms such as G4S.

“The process is not transparent, and we want to know how these contracts were awarded. Do private prison companies comply with the laws of the country, including our broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) laws? And if these companies have B-BBEE partners, who are they and why are they keeping quiet?,” he said.

Bester is currently being held at Kgosi Mampuru II Prison.