Thabo Bester escape: not the first time government has had to intervene in running of Mangaung prison

The department of correctional services (DCS) invoked section 112 of the Correctional Services Act as a legal basis to temporarily take over the management of Mangaung prison in Bloemfontein, run by global security contractor G4S.

The move undertaken on Thursday follows the escape of Facebook rapist Thabo Bester.

It is the second time the government is intervening in the management of the prison. In 2013, after widespread unrest, a strike and evidence of violence and torture taking place in the prison, DCS also stepped in.

It ran the prison for 10 months and then handed it back to G4S without explanation. 

“Why are they now not taking back the prison?” asked a DCS official who worked at the department’s controllers’ office in Mangaung prison from 2013 to 2016 and who asked not to be named. “We thought this would be an ultimate take-back, but G4S is still running the prison.”

Sources within the department told the Sunday Times G4S remains in charge of the facility and the director of the prison, Johan Theron, has not been “removed”, as was reported this week. The temporary DCS manager, Patrick Ali Mashabathakga, who has been appointed by national commissioner of correctional services Makgothi Thobakgale will oversee a G4S-workforce.

“G4S management has been pulled back from running the centre. Johan Theron, the G4S director will answer to Mashabathakga but will still oversee orders and monitor tenders; he is still responsible for administrative tasks and external relations,” said a source in the department who is close to Mashabathakga. He also claims the DCS temporary director is hardly supported.

“There is no team to support Mashabathakga.” 

In 2018, when G4S lost control of its prison in Birmingham, UK, due to riots, violence and widespread disorder, the contract was immediately terminated and the state took back the prison permanently. In South Africa this is the second time G4S has lost control of the prison, yet the response is as lenient as it was in 2013. Section 112 clearly provides for temporary measures, with a view to handing back control to G4S, and does not enable the termination of its contract.

Sources working on the investigation in 2013 claim that in 2017, all the underlying evidence went missing. “The evidence was stored in a safe room in the office of the then national commissioner, Zach Modise, and one day, I went to check, and it was empty,” said the DCS source who carried out the investigation at Mangaung prison. The report, that became public seven years after it was supposed to be released, found that G4S forcibly medicated inmates and regularly assaulted and tortured them using electrified shields and that many prisoners died under suspicious circumstances.

Mashabathakga was part of the 2013 investigation team and, according to the DCS source, was frustrated when the evidence disappeared.

The DCS contract management office that monitors the G4S contract can initiate its termination. That office reports to the national commissioner. The DCS source said the director of the contract office has been suspended after the Bester saga.

DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said: “The identities of DCS officials under investigation cannot be disclosed publicly. DCS has referred the contract for legal advice, exploring the remedies available to us.” 

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