Central SA
Thabo Bester saga: EFFSC demands cancellation of G4S contract─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 15:02 Fri, 31 Mar 2023
Students at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein organised a protest march on Friday outside the correctional centre following the recent scandals involving the notorious Facebook rapist's escape from the private prison in Mangaung.
On their Facebook Page, the university's EFF Student Council said they demand that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) cancel the contract with the multi-national security company G4S and re-arrest the escaped rapist and murderer Thabo Bester.
OFM News previously reported that the contract between G4S and the DCS has been referred to lawyers for legal advice.
ALSO READ – Thabo Bester Saga: DCS refers G4S contract for legal opinion
Yesterday, the national commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale held a press briefing in Bloemfontein to give the latest on the Bester saga. He stated that G4S has not conceded that the body found in cell 35 was not the body of Thabo Bester. Thobakgale said that the department decided to intervene due to several security breaches and other practices identified by the investigation report on Bester.
Ali Mashabathakga has since been appointed as the temporary manager at G4S to control the day-to-day running of the controversial security company in Mangaung. Bester allegedly lived the high life in Johannesburg after escaping from the Mangaung prison in May 2022 after staging a well-calculated fire death in his cell.
ALSO READ: G4S promise allegedly not kept
In December 2022, an inmate at the Mangaung Correctional Centre under the management of G4S, escaped from the Universitas Academic Hospital. This inmate, Chris Potgieter, escaped from the hospital on Tuesday 27 December where he had been receiving medical attention under guard. He was later re-arrested. The spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Singabakho Nxumalo, told OFM News that Potgieter was re-arrested on the evening of Wednesday 28 December.
ALSO READ: Correctional services probe death of Mangaung inmate
Meanwhile, different roleplays suggest that the Bester saga has now put the security company under a tight leash with the department as many continue to call for the scrapping of its contract. It’s understood that the contract between the department and G4S is set to end in 2026.
