Lamola: G4S given notice to terminate Mangaung contract
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola told MPs on Tuesday that his department has served private security company G4S with a notice to terminate its contract.
The contract relates to the running of the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein.
Lamola presented the department's annual performance plan to the Justice and Correctional Services Committee on Tuesday.
The Bloemfontein facility is run by G4S in a 25-year public-private partnership with the government.
The contract was set to run until 2026 and it is understood that the government pays service providers at least R1 billion a year to run the facilities.
The decision to terminate the contract with G4S follows the dramatic escape of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester.
He escaped from the maximum-security prison in May last year by faking his own death and was rearrested in Tanzania earlier this month.
He was allegedly assisted by employees at the prison and his medical doctor lover.
Lamola told MPs that the notice to terminate was served following consultations with the legal advisors.
He said the contract will cease to operate after a 90-day notice period.
"The Department of Correctional Services has already resumed with an internal exercise for the takeover process.”
Lamola said the department recorded 22 escapes from a total of 143 223 inmate population in the 2021/22 financial year.
"We are the first to acknowledge that one escape at our facilities is one too many.
“We will redouble our security operations to prevent escapes and deal harshly with officials who fail to adhere to Standard Operating Procedures as the national commissioner has acted yesterday in the Mthata management area where there was an escape of two inmates.
“One has been recaptured, and eight officials who were on duty on the date of the escape and did not adhere to standard operating procedures have been suspended," says Lamola.
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