By Kopano Dibakwane
G4S officials appeared before the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services today, to present a report on the convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester’s escape from Mangaung correctional centre (MMC).
The officials- Kobus Groenewoud(director), Joseph Monyante(head of centre) and Gert Byleveld (audit and risk director) were grilled by the portfolio committee members who did not mince their words as they took turns poking holes in the 21 page report.
In his opening remarks, committee chairperson, Gratitude Magwanishe, said that G4S was summoned after failure to appear as scheduled on 4 April. He expressed dissatisfaction with another failure by G4S to submit their report before the committee sitting, stating that it affects the committee’s oversight responsibility.
” We take note of the recent developments regarding the re-arresting of Mr (Thabo) Bester and his associates, but that does not discharge our oversight responsibility as a committee. We still have to get to the bottom of what led to the escape,” said Magwanishe.
Monyante(G4S) gave a step-by-step account of events that occurred on the day of Bester’s escape. He said that Bester submitted an application to be transferred to a single cell on 30 April 2022, which was approved by the controller on site from department of correctional services(DCS).
2 May 2022:
7:30 pm, the last roll call for the day is conducted and all the cells are locked, including cell 35( the single cell where Bester was housed after the transfer).
3 May 2022:
4:00 am, fire is discovered from Bester’s cell 35. The fire is extinguished by the MMC trained personnel. The cell is cordoned off, MMC and DCS management are called to the scene.
4:26 am, a nurse from independent contractor (Life Pfaranani) arrives.
5:01 am, MMC operations director arrives.
5:10 am, a doctor from Life Pfaranani arrives, he examines the body and Bester is certified dead.
6:00 am, area commisioner and duty director arrive.
6:55 am, South African Police Services (SAPS) officials arrive.
10:30 am, SAPS forensic team arrives, takes photos of the incident, removes the body to government mortuary for post mortem.
5 May 2022: SAPS returns to cell 35 to investigate a smell which is later discovered to be that of petrol.
6 May 2022: the department of home affairs issues Bester’ s death certificate.
Monyante revealed that a laptop and cellphone were some of the items removed from Bester’s cell after the incident. He said that the laptop was used by Bester with permission from the centre, to complete his course in graphic design, but the cellphone was not authorised. He furthermore revealed that three officials at MMC were suspended and later dismissed on suspicion of involvement in the escape.
Democratic Alliance MP, Glynnis Breytenbach, referred to the report as “a white wash with a confluence of coincidences”.
” There’s absolutely no indication in this report that G4S accepts any responsibility for the fact that until yesterday there’s a murderer and serial rapist on the run. You’ve done nothing to find out how did the petrol get into the cell. Who was the dead person in the cell? Did they come in dead or were they murdered in the prison? It’s impossible to believe that this incident occurred without greasing of Palms,” she said.
Other committee members, Anthea Ramolobeng(ANC), Yoliswa Yako(EFF) and Xola Nqola(ANC), enquired about the defective cctv system that was “coincidentally” dysfunctional only on the day of the incident, the decision to place Bester in a cell next to the fire escape, the entrance of a tv stand(which possibly carried the alleged corpse into the centre), an unidentified vehicle allowed into the centre premises without a gate pass, the unregistered visit from a mysterious person days before the incident, to name but a few.
The committee sitting will continue tommorow with presentations from SAPS and the Justice department.
